A Pessimistic State of Mind
by bubblesodatea
Summary: Natalia is a cynical paralegal working in NYC who's always been perfectly fine with solitude. But loneliness creeps slowly into her little world, and she wonders if isolation is what she really wants in life. She meets Alfred, an optimistic electronics salesperson who shows her the benefit to having friends. (Or, tries to, at least.)[Human AU. Eventual America x Belarus/AmeriBela]
1. Chapter 1

**May 22nd, Thursday.**

The alarm clock went off at eight o'clock, which made Natalia Arlovskaya look up from her breakfast of hot draniki and cold coffee. She had completely forgotten that she had set the reminder, and as Natalia reluctantly left the dining table, she wondered why she had set an alarm in the first place. The woman was never one to lay idly in bed on regular mornings, and the tedious spring Thursday was definitely a regular day for her.

With the machine's beeping turned off, Natalia went to finish her breakfast, and then to dress for work.

Having left and locked her apartment and finished the elevator journey down to the ground floor, Natalia hailed a taxicab to work. It was a partly cloudy day in the city of New York, but there was still enough space between the drifting clouds and towering buildings to send beaming rays of sunshine onto the her sullen face. The taxi driver was a man with neat, silvery blonde hair almost the same color as Natalia's. He had rolled down the glass between the two when she first stepped in for the address, but hadn't rolled it back up. Instead, the man (who introduced himself as Tino) spent the majority of the cab ride talking about subjects that Natalia didn't care for.

Namely, himself.

"...My husband told me that I shouldn't be feeding our dog so much fish, but I searched online, and the internet says it's fine. I also took Hanatamago to her vet last week, and he says that she's in great condition."

Natalia's hand was supporting her head as she leaned against the interior cab door; the woman herself only half listening to the man's chatter, only interrupting after something he said bothered her.

"What kind of name is Hanatamago?" she asked irritably, her indigo eyes glaring at the back of Tino's head. Tino laughed, making a right turn.

"I wanted her to have an original, creative name. What do you think?" he asked, peering into the rearview mirror as they slowed down to a halt in front of a red light to let a pack of tired-look tourists to cross.

The woman went back to staring out the window. After a minute, she finally answered.

"I think you should talk less."

Tino sighed, but didn't say anything after that, which was a blessing to Natalia's ears. The rest of the ride carried out in silence. When the taxi arrived at her work location, she paid the driver and walked out.

The building where she worked was actually a tall, modern-looking structure with almost every floor containing a different business. Some floors held offices, others had restaurants and shops. The entire building was 53 floors, and Natalia worked on the 46th floor. It was named "the World", and because of this, some tourists confused it with the old newspaper publishings.

Her occupation as a paralegal only sounded impressive to someone who was unfamiliar with the term. Her boss, a tall and serious man named Ludwig was a skilled lawyer who was apparently very well known in his home town of Dortmund. Whether or not these rumors were true hadn't been confirmed, but Natalia wouldn't be surprised if they were. He was always swarmed with clients, emails, files, messages and paperwork. According to his flatmate Roderich, Ludwig only ever slept on weekends and bank holidays. She wouldn't be surprised if that were true either.

He was a workaholic, and even with two paralegals and a secretary, the man never stopped laboring at his desk. Natalia rarely praised anyone, but she did respect his no-nonsense attitude.

A doorman in a smart blue uniform opened the front door for her, and she walked briskly past him without a word of thanks. The ground floor of the building held a lobby and a large directory, as well as a guide for any visitors, the gold marble floors and artificial lighting making the room seem warmer and friendlier than it was outside. Here, it was easy to distinguish who was who. Businessmen spoke to each other in hushed, honey coated tones; tourists talked loudly and wandered around.

However, there weren't any businessmen or tourists in the lobby when Natalia entered the building. By the time she had reached the elevator, the only other person she had seen was the lobby clerk. Pressing the 'up' button on the metal panel, she hoped that the elevator would be empty of anyone else too.

Unfortunately, it didn't take long for her to see that her wish hadn't been fulfilled. The large copper-colored doors slowly slid open to reveal a very short young man with curly light brown hair in a red uniform standing off to the side with the buttons.

"Good morning, Miss Arlovskaya." he said nervously, subconsciously fidgeting away from her as she walked into the lift. Natalia grunted in reply.

Raivis Galante was a seventeen year old on his gap year before college, and was terrified of almost everything. Natalia held a special place in his mind full of fears because she actually tried to scare him. He had taken the job as the liftman for 'valuable life experience', but ended up more terrified than educated.

"What floor?" he asked her, trying hard to put a friendly smile on his face. The blonde woman's scowl deepened as she looked over to him.

"Well, idiot, I don't recall changing jobs overnight. It's the same floor as yesterday." Natalia snapped. Raivis let out a nervous, slightly hysterical laugh.

"R-Right! I'll, um, press the thing!" he said, his voice getting higher and higher as his trembling fingers pushed the '46' button. The doors slid to a close, and the elevator lurched before moving upwards at a snail-like pace. They had passed the first five floors when Natalia spoke.

"Why do you even work here? I don't need anyone to press buttons for me. I can do it myself. What, were you so pitiful looking that they made up a job for you? We didn't even have a elevator operator before you." she said. Raivis shuddered at her harsh, stinging tone, trying to collect himself enough to answer.

"Well, Miss Arlovskaya, t-the job of a liftman isn't a new thing, really…" he muttered. His chestnut colored blucher shoes scuffed the floor as he looked down, doing anything to make himself disappear from her line of sight.

"Wait. I know why they hired you. Maybe you're more like an experiment and they're trying out how long a man can last in an enclosed, suspended space without suffocating or falling. Yes, that must be it. No wonder they haven't had the lift inspected since you've started working here. They must want you to fall. No one really needs a boy to push buttons, anyways."

Raivis let out horrified squeak. His combined anxiety of heights, death and Natalia made it impossible for him to respond, so he simply sputtered out incoherent words until the door opened on the 23rd floor to admit Arthur Kirkland.

He unknowingly terrified Raivis even farther with his ruffled sand colored hair and his haggard, exhausted face. As he leaned over the shorter man to push the '48' button, Raivis positively collapsed in fright. Arthur didn't notice this and stepped away from him, his attention focused on the newspaper he was reading. After a few minutes, he looked up from the paper and realized that Natalia was in the carriage as well.

"Morning, Miss Arlovskaya." he said curtly.

"Morning." she replied. He went back to reading. Thankfully, neither of them enjoyed small talk, and the elevator continued to move upwards. Occasionally, Arthur turned a page of his newspaper, and when they reached the 34th floor, a silver-haired intern stepped in with them.

Emil glanced down at the unmoving body of Raivis, but seemed relatively undisturbed by him. With cardboard trays of coffee balanced on both hands, he carefully stepped over Raivis to lean against the lift wall.

"Mr. Kirkland, do you mind? I'm going to floor 37." he said, indicating with his head that his hands were full. Arthur hastily put aside his newspaper to fulfill Emil's request.

"Oh, yes, of course. There you go." Arthur said, hitting the '37' button with enthusiasm. Emil nodded his gratitude.

Natalia scoffed at Arthur's obedience to the younger man. It was well known to her that Arthur was a struggling author as well as a critic for the local newspaper. The Englishman was desperate to publish his first novel, and Emil was an intern for a well-known publishing company.

The doors opened again on floor 37 to the publishing firm. Arthur bid the young man a rather hearty farewell, and the doors closed and resumed upwards. No one else joined the trio in the lift after that, and Natalia suspected that it was because the fast large glass elevators near the south of the building were more appealing than the small metal one with an annoying liftman. She never took it because it was too bright and crowded.

She rolled up the sleeve of her white blouse to check the time on her small silver watch. 8:51. The indigo eyed woman cursed under breath and fixed her sleeve. She wasn't the type to be care much about wasting time, but a 30 minute lecture from Ludwig wasn't what she wanted in the morning.

Natalia briefly wondered if pushing the unconscious Raivis out onto the next floor (level 42) would lighten the carriage and make it go faster, but she decided against it. She could tell that Arthur was getting anxious as well; the newspaper crumpled in his hands and his green eyes darted around the lift impatiently.

After an eternity of ascension, the elevator finally stopped at level 46. Kicking Raivis' arm aside, Natalia walked out of the cursed lift. She heard Arthur murmur a goodbye, but didn't bother responding.

The moment she stepped out, Leon rushed over to meet her, grabbed her wrist, and very solemnly dragged her over to her desk. Natalia tried to pull her arm away from the Hong Konger's grip, but he had grabbed her weak left arm. Natalia growled when he stopped at the cubicle.

"You better have a damn good excuse for harassing me, becau—"

Her co-worker interrupted her in the middle of her grumbling .

"Bossman's already _super _cranky this morning, so I wouldn't get all whiny if I were you. Apparently that big-shot client of his who called him like crazy decided to switch attorneys, and now none of us are getting paid for the case we wrote for them." Leon said sourly. Natalia's brows furrowed as she took in what he had just said.

"So, the hours I spent on that stupid legal document was for nothing?" Natalia asked. Leon nodded hesitantly, seeing the disgusted expression on her pale face, tinted red with frustration.

"Yeah, you're not the only one angry. Mathias had to cancel his lunch plans with his sister who flew in to visit him from Copenhagen, and he's been here since seven AM to help Ludwig reschedule his appointments. The client scheduled over 5 appointments in the next seven days, and now they've left a huge hole in Ludwig's appointment schedule; now they have to rebook and notify like, a hundred people. Mathias keeps saying that he and Ludwig don't need help, but he's been frazzled all morning. Annoying, right?" her co worker said, clearly ticked off. Leon shook his head, his usually neat dark brown hair rumpled. Natalia noticed that everyone she had seen today was either upset or exhausted. This couldn't be a good omen.

"Well, what does Ludwig want us to do if Køehler doesn't want us to help him? He's such a brat." Natalia groused.

"Right, now I'm cleaning and organizing Ludwig's meeting room since I don't have anything else to do, and I can't leave work. Mathias' been muttering about silent calling the irritating client to piss them off. And I feel like a maid. You can...make us some coffee." The heavy-browed young man suggested. "I'm not happy with being a cleaning lady, but if we do anything else, Ludwig will yell at us."

Natalia grimaced. "Fine. Don't bother telling me how much sugar and cream you all want."

Leon nodded again, and then turned and headed to Ludwig's meeting room, plucking a container of citrus-scented multi surface wipes off the filing cabinet as he walked away.

With a sigh, Natalia set her purse down onto the desk and slipped her navy blazer off. She went to find the coffee machine. The sun was high in the sky, it was 9:15, and the workday had just begun. A very normal day.

Ludwig's coffee machine had been a housewarming gift from his (now deceased) older brother when Ludwig had moved from Germany to New York five years ago; it was a old but hardy thing that made coffee with a reminiscent taste of paper. Natalia didn't mind the mild, watered down blandness of the coffee, but she did blame the drink for being too weak to keep her awake sometimes.

Taking the glass coffee pot, she filled the reservoir with water from the fridge and plugged it in. Dumping in the cheap coffee powder; she set it to boil. It would take a couple minutes for the water to start bubbling, so the woman headed back to her cubicle.

Natalia's work space was surprisingly neat considering how she kept her apartment, but maybe it was because her coworkers were very tidy; Leon and Ludwig were both extremely organized and they often cleaned up after her and Mathias. The spiky-haired Danish secretary was even messier than Natalia, but for now, the entire office was sparkling clean.

Natalia was very proud of her desk. It was cherry wood, and had been polished to a gloss by Leon. A blue vase holding a wilting sunflower sat on the upper left corner, and a small plastic drawer on the upper right. A plain metal picture frame was placed proudly in the middle, displaying the most recent picture of her family. Everytime she saw it, Natalia couldn't help but cheer up very, very slightly.

In the very center of the photograph was her older sister Iryna, smiling and wearing her favorite satin blue headband. On her eldest sibling's right was Ivan, dwarfing his two sisters. His ever-present grin was on his face, his scarf still draped over his t-shirt. On Iryna's left was Natalia, giving the camera an awkward half-smile,half-grimace that made her look a little menacing, especially next to her cheerful siblings. Behind Ivan and Natalia stood their parents, both beaming happily. One could assume that in their family, the youngest one certainly looked like the odd one out.

This picture, the picture of her family that was most recent had been taken three years ago. Natalia hadn't seen any of them ever since she had flown in to visit her sister during Iryna's wedding back home in Alaska; she also rarely called them. She had tried several times over the past years to save up enough to buy airplane tickets, but was always either short on cash or too busy. But oh, how she missed them…

Suddenly, a loud beeping interrupted Natalia's nostalgia. Leon stuck his head out of the meeting room.

"Hey, go get that." Leon said before ducking back to his cleaning duties. Natalia frowned at the place where his head had been a second ago. He really seemed intent on ordering her around this morning. It seems that her normally quiet colleague was only voluble when it involved pushing everyone around to fulfill his requests or complaining.

Walking back toward the shabby coffee machine required her passing by the door that connected the offices and meeting room to the waiting area and Mathias' desk. Even through the heavy wooden door, Natalia could hear his loud voice talking to one of Ludwig's clients. His normally cheerful voice sounded strained; no doubt from the extra work required of him today.

The loud, annoying beeping of the coffee machine wasn't stopped when Natalia flicked the "off" switch. It didn't silence when she jiggled the short electrical cord either. It seemed to be stuck in the socket. Her phone's email alert rang adding to the loud annoyance, and she put it on the counter to check later. There was a loud thumping on the wall.

"Turn the coffee machine off, Natalia. I'm on the phone!" Mathias called through the walls, sounding slightly agitated. Natalia huffed. Didn't he know that she was trying? Were her attempts to unplug the cursed thing not enough for the brat? With an extra hard tug, the woman strained and managed to pull the plug out of the wall. However, she had used too much force and the short distance between the cord and the machine gave her arm very little space to move; her elbow nudged sent Ludwig's beloved coffee machine off the marble counter and crashing to the floor. Coffee spilled onto every nearby surface except for Natalia, who jumped out of harm's way.

The coffee machine was done for. It was over five years old and had already been on the brink of machinery-death when Natalia had used it. Now, there was no repairing. The exterior casing had cracked open to reveal near broken wires. The glass pot had split into shards and the plastic handle the only thing still in one piece, lying next to—

Oh, god.

Natalia's phone was completely ruined. The screen was cracked in multiple places, and the pool of coffee around it meant that it was surely waterlogged. The momentum from her pulling had caused it to fall off the counter with the coffee machine. Using two fingers, she delicately picked it up. She pressed the home button, and then nearly dropped the phone again. On her thumb was a small, bleeding nick, cut into her skin by the cracked glass.

"Shit." she muttered, surprisingly calm for someone who had just broken two things beyond repair. There were rapid footsteps and Leon appeared next to her, panting from his hurry. His thick brows furrowed as he took in the mess.

"Did you break Ludwig's coffee machine? His brother gave him that." he said needlessly. Natalia rolled her eyes.

"I know that.I've been working here longer than you have." she groused, wiping the blood off her finger onto her blazer. Leon took in a sharp intake of breath and stared apprehensively at the ruined jacket. He didn't exhale for a minute. "Snap the hell out of it, Wang. It's just clothes."Natalia said.

The dark haired man blinked a few times from shock and glanced around the mess. He opened and closed his mouth like a fish, then groaned.

"Just go and dump the coffee machine onto Ludwig's desk. I'll clean up." he said, reaching for his Lysol wipes. She narrowed her eyes.

"Why would Ludwig want an old, broken machine? The wires look like they could start a fire. Just throw it away." Natalia said, picking the pieces up not-so carefully. Leon shook his head.

"You should tie it up and drop it off at his office. You know how important anything relating to his brother is to him." he said, sadness creeping onto his usually emotionless voice. His brown-eyed gaze shifted over to her phone. "You need a new one."

"Obviously." she said, looking at the broken screen, coffee dripping off of it as Natalia tried to shake it dry in one last attempt to salvage her phone. It didn't work. Leon brushed past her and walked toward the storage closet to get a mop, leaving her to put the coffee maker pieces into a bag for delivery to Ludwig.

Natalia held a plastic bag in which the pieces of the coffee maker lay. Despite Leon's explanation on how precious it was to Ludwig, she didn't see why anyone would still want a broken machine. Even if it was from Ludwig's dead brother, there was no reason to keep rubbish around. She knocked on the door to her boss' office. There was no answer; Natalia wondered if he was off in a conference, or if he was with Mathias frantically rearranging his schedule.

She reached for the door knob and twisted it, pushing the door open. The lights automatically turned on when the woman entered. Natalia had been in his office many times before, but she had never had the time to actually look around. Upon further examination, she realized that Ludwig actually had quite a lot of pictures around his otherwise plain office.

One of the pictures on the wall had young-adult Ludwig standing with a white-haired man. His eyes were upturned, and they were a strange brown that made them almost seem red. Natalie guessed that this was Ludwig's older brother, Gilbert. In the photograph he was in mid-laugh, one arm on Ludwig's shoulder (he had to reach up because his younger brother was taller than him,) and the other around a girl. She too had bright white hair, her eyes closed in a smiling expression. Often times people had commented on Natalia's platinum blonde hair as an almost snow color, but the picture girl's locks were a true, dazzling white. Ludwig's hair was down instead of being slicked up and he looked almost to her unrecognizable without his neatly combed coiffure.

The trio was standing in a airport terminal in Germany judging by the sign hanging behind them. Ludwig was holding a carry-on suitcase in one hand and had a jacket slung over his shoulders, but neither his brother or the girl had any luggage on them. This must of been the picture taken right before Ludwig's departure for the United States, and if Mathias' rumors were true, a month before his brother's car accident.

She stared at the girl's cheerful expression, and then over to Ludwig's anxious but excited expression, and felt something close to pity. Natalia had never felt it before, and didn't enjoy the feeling very much. She forced herself to look away and saw another photo, this one with the trio again, looking significantly younger. Ludwig couldn't have been older than ten. The colors were slightly faded and a corner of the picture was torn off. Ludwig and his brother were wearing dark green polo shirts and khaki shorts, both squinting at the camera because of the sun. The girl was wearing a pleated green skirt and a yellow blouse and was undoubtedly the same girl, even if her hair seemed more yellowish.

Natalia realized that every picture on his wall had his brother in it. Sometimes Gilbert was with Ludwig, sometimes he was by himself, and sometimes there were some other people with him, but it was always Gilbert. She sympathized with her boss. Ivan was very dear to her after all, and she couldn't imagine what she would do without him. She hadn't even messaged him in ages. No doubt that he must think her an unreliable younger sister now.

She heard someone walk toward the office door and open it. Natalia turned around and saw Ludwig himself, dark circles starting to form around his eyes. He looked surprised to see her in his office.

"Arlovskaya, what are you doing in here?" he asked sharply. "And what are you holding?" Natalia realized that she still had the plastic bag on her arm, and she walked over to Ludwig and shoved it toward him. Ludwig undid the knot she had tied with the handles and peered into its contents. He looked back up, his blue eyes intense with emotion.

"Did you break my brother's coffee machine?" he asked quietly. Natalia nodded. She dully wondered if he was about to start yelling at her, or skip straight ahead to firing her. Instead, Ludwig calmly tied the bag back up and placed it onto his desk. He took in a deep breath before talking to her again.

"Miss Arlovskaya, please return to work. I don't appreciate your slacking off." he said authoritatively. "If you must get coffee, go downstairs to floor 34 and buy a beverage. Actually, if you do, buy something for everyone. Mr. Wang told me that he would like something to drink. "

"Fine," Natalia snapped back, her voice harsher than his. He had employed her as his paralegal, not his servant. Was the loss of a client so important to him that Natalia now had to change her job description?

Ludwig ignored this, so Natalia brushed past him and left his office. On her way out of the offices, she brushed past Leon, who was at his desk bent over his computer. He didn't look up as she walked past his cubicle, but she did hear him mutter "Get me a yuanyang."

"I'll spit in it for you." she hissed as she opened the door to the waiting room where Mathias' desk was. He was calling someone on an old fashioned rotary phone, bent over the desk. By his tone, he was bordering on full-blown anger, and Natalia knew how rare that was for the optimistic man. He was talking in a rushed, frustrated manner.

"Listen, Miss Lucia. I don't care how rich you are, or how much stockholders you have in Eosos Inc.—actually, no. I take that back. I care about how rich you are, and how you're not paying us for our work. No, I'm being perfectly reasonable right now. You were Mr. Ludwig's client for a month, and you haven't paid any of us for that time—"

Natalia walked past the man and his angry phone conversation to go to the elevator and pressed the down button. She looked at her watch. 10:41 AM, and her work day had gone exactly as she had thought it would. A morning starting out normally, and then the day slowly spiralling into hell. When the elevator 'dinged' again, she noticed that no one else was in it, not even the liftman. Hopefully, Raivis had quit. The idea of it cheered her up, but only a little.

The ride down to level 34 was faster than the ride she had taken this morning. No one else got in with her and there were less floors to go through. It was surprisingly calming, soft music playing as the lift made its way down. The air inside was still musty and dank and the lights were still flickering and dim, but it was so much better to be alone. She leaned against the metal walls and stared into space. Natalia remembered she had received an email earlier. When she got back to her PC, she'd have to log in and check her account. Maybe it was just spam.

The doors slid open and she stepped out into the food court of the World building. At lunch time, the black marble floors would be unbelievably crowded, people walking here and there. Now, there were only around a hundred people mulling around, occasionally pushing a metal chair back or getting up to buy something. Most of the people seemed to be students or interns, and Natalia once again felt insulted by the work Ludwig had given her.

There were over 20 different restaurants, bistros and cafes on this floor. It took her a minute to find the coffee shop. It wasn't hidden behind any other eatery, but the green and brown color scheme didn't stand out from the black floor or the dark-grey walls. Natalia silently cursed whoever had chosen the café's color palette.

It was enclosed, dark brown wooden walls separating it from the rest of the food court. The door was made of glass, and as Natalia opened and walked through, she noticed that there was rather annoying jazz music playing on the speakers. Some students sat at the metal tables, typing on their laptops and drinking coffee. Some were talking in warm, hushed tones as they lounged around. There was a very comfortably cozy feeling about this place, and she hated it. Natalia almost considered walking away and back toward the elevator. However, she desperately needed caffeine, so she begrudgingly dragged herself to the counter.

A peppy girl who looked the same age as the student customers was at the cashier's. Her long, wavy black hair was tied into a high ponytail, and a pink flower hair clip was pinned to her visor. Natalia thought it looked like a peony. On her apron, a plastic nametag with the name "Liying Ling" etched into it.

"Hi, and welcome to Starbucks! What can I get for you?" she asked. Natalia looked up to the menu for a second.

"Espresso Macchiato. Large. That's all." Natalia said, handing the girl her debit card. The dark haired girl smiled at her bemusedly.

"Did you mean grande?" Liying asked taking her card. "We call large drinks "grande". It's supposed to sound cooler that way. You can say it with me: grande." A muscle in Natalia's jaw jumped, and she took her card back quickly after Liying swiped it, not saying anything.

"Okay, here's your receipt! You're order number 86. Do you want to hear about our limited-time only punch card?" Liying asked.

"No." Natalia grunted back. Taking her receipt as well. The barista sighed, waving on the next customer.

"Have a great day, ma'am!" she called out as Natalia stalked away to the pickup area, ignoring the annoyingly accommodating cashier. She had come down here to get coffee, not to make friends. Soon, her number was called and she got her drink, but he paper cup they gave her wasn't enough to hold in the heat, and it burnt the pads of her fingers. Natalia ignored this too.

The elevator trip upstairs was a bit more eventful than the one down. Vash Zwingli,a banker, stepped into the carriage on the 39th floor and went back out on the 40th, both floors owned by a chain banking company. The lift stopped again on her floor.

She got out and was once again met with Mathias speaking sympathetically into the rotary phone to another client. He sounded a tad more calm; perhaps it was because he was no longer talking to the person who had caused all their pain.

"Mr. Karpusi, I'm sorry that I can't book you for tomorrow, but the issue with Eosos Inc. is delaying everybody in my firm's schedules by several days. No, I can't book you for Saturday either. This office is closed on weekends. We've gotta rest, you know?" he said into the mouthpiece, drumming a red pen onto the desk. Mathias waved Natalia over, then put the pen down and plucked a orange post-it note off his secrétaire. He handed it to her, still talking on the phone. "No, yeah, I totally understand. You've got a pretty big problem with that, yeah? Still, the earliest time I could rebook you to is next next Wednesday. Yeah, June 4th. Is that okay? Perfect! I'll need your email address again."

Natalia took the post it from him. It read "_Miss Arlovskaya: Meet me and Mr. Wang in my office at exactly 12:00 PM. - Ludwig."_

She wondered what he would want from them. He couldn't possibly be holding a conference just to talk to about the coffee machine, could he? No, maybe his intent was to talk about something else: schedules, work habits, pink slips...All very likely.

As she pushed the door to the offices open, she wondered why Ludwig hadn't asked to see Mathias too. The woman walked past Leon's desk again. His computer monitor had a note stuck to it as well, no doubt bearing the same message hers did. His right hand supported his chin, fingers covering his mouth slightly as his other hand typed away on the dark-haired man glanced up for a second as she walked by, but didn't move from his position to say anything.

Her purse was now hanging on a hook attached to the plastic grey cubicle wall. Someone had probably put it there while she was getting coffee downstairs. Putting the drink on her desk, she dug through the contents of her wallet to make sure that everything was still there. She wouldn't put theft below her co workers, and her cynical brain didn't let her lower her guard. Natalia pushed her chair back and started up her laptop. As she waited, she took a sip of coffee and wrinkled her nose. There was far too much steamed milk, and it was so frothy that it was more like drinking air than anything else. The cream was too heavy and too sweet; it made her drowsy. She blearily stared at the foamed milk and dryly wondered if the chipper barista had poisoned her for not being friendly enough.

Figures. The nice ones couldn't be trusted either.

Her computer turned on with a musical chime, the loading bar changing into the login screen. Natalia set the coffee down on a paper napkin coaster, used both hands to type her username and password, and logged in. Instantly, a web browser opened. She clicked the link that led to her email inbox.

"_You have three (3) unread messages, __**Natalia Arlovskaya**_" A pop-up read, flashing on the screen. Natalia closed it and glanced over the mail she hadn't seen yet. Two of them were spam messages from a company that claimed to provide pills to enlarge a certain appendage that Natalia lacked. She debated forwarding the message to all the men she knew, but reluctantly decided against it. Although maybe she would send it to Toris later; he was very fun to torment, after all.

The other message was from Elizabeta Héderváry, one of the only friends that Natalia had. When she clicked the message, she realized that it hadn't been sent to only her.

_**Girl's night out?: from lhedervarygoodtime to n_arlovskaya, mllachance and bellemanon: **_

_Helloooo! I was wondering if we could all get together on Friday the twenty-third? I miss you all very much. Why don't we meet up at my work place? Don't forget, it's called the Power bar! See you guys there at six o' clock! -Elizabeta_

_**Re: from bellemanon to all:**_

_ahhh, yes, i'd love to go! ty veri much! we'll probably give you a lot of tips, LOL :3. this will benefit you so much. is an event happening or somthin?_

_**Re: from mllachance to all:**_

_Yes, I'd like to go visit you. Thank you for the invite, Elizabeta._

An invitation to a bar? Natalia had never really gotten invitations from friends to do anything. Elizabeta and her were close enough, yes, but they had met in college, and had barely stayed in touch since. Manon Clovis was nice and all, but Natalia was even less familiar with her. They had taken one semester of Law in her senior year of college, and that was it. She knew that Manon worked at some bistro downtown, but that was all. And Monique...the younger cousin of Francis Bonnefoy (one of the most irritating men on the planet) who somehow turned out to be decent. Natalia's eyes wandered over to her broken phone lying on her desk and the orange sticky note next to it. Maybe a drink would be alright.

Sighing inwardly, she started typing her response to Elizabeta.

_**n-arlovskaya to all:**_

_I'll go. You pay._

She sent the email. It wasn't a long response at all, but she couldn't think of anything else that would need saying. Would dragging out the reply be better? Probably not. Natalia logged out of her email and checked the time again, it was 11:20 on the dot. There was still some time before her meeting with Ludwig. Her usually overflowing in tray was mercifully near-bare today; the only paper in it was a document from Leon which was nothing more than two sheets of paper stapled together. At first Natalia was surprised—there was still some work to do, even with the lack of cases and activity?—but the shock quickly vanished and was replaced with irritation when she saw what it was.

Instead of actual work printed on the papers, one sheet had a crude drawn picture of what Natalia made out to be a cup of coffee and an unhappy face scribbled in blue ink. The other was a short paragraph of Cantonese writing, signed by Leon. She couldn't read Cantonese, but she could guess that it was about Leon not getting his yuanyang, and threw the papers away. Honestly, she had a hard time telling if Mathias or Leon was the bigger prankster in this office. They were both different levels of irritating.

Natalia spun in her chair lazily, mulling over what else could be done. The mess with the coffee machine had been presumably been cleaned up by Leon, the pieces now with Ludwig. Leon could be heard vacuuming his cubicle, and would probably be cleaning the rest of his desk until the meeting time. Mathias was still on the phone talking to people; out of the three of them that worked under Ludwig, as he was the only one outgoing enough to talk to people on a regular basis without getting frustrated. Ludwig hadn't given her any instructions besides "Wait until one o'clock."

She checked her watch again. 11:26. Still plenty of time left before the meeting. Natalia considered leaving for an early lunch break, but decided against it. She didn't have much of an appetite, and her coffee was more than enough for her to digest at the time. Reaching over for her drink, she noted that it had cooled down to the point that it was amazingly somehow even less appealing than it had been when she first bought it. She held the cup in her left hand, taking slow, unenthusiastic sips. Her right hand's finger pad were bright red, still burnt from the same coffee earlier. Natalia rubbed her right hand against the cold metal armrest and jerked her hand back abruptly when she felt a sharp pang of pain burn under her skin; she'd have to find a more effective way to soothe it later.

"Natalia." someone said suddenly, causing her to jolt up and nearly spill her drink on herself. She plunked it back on the desk before she looked up to see the speaker. The woman scowled when she saw that it was Leon once again.

"Are you going to moan about not getting your goddamn coffee? Well, you should thank me. The café downstairs is shit." Natalia grumbled. Leon frowned slightly.

"No, but I did notice that you threw my drawing away. I spent time on that," he quipped, taking a seat on her desk. "Seriously, do you know what Ludwig wants?"

Natalia shook her head. Leon lifted the flower vase off her desk and held it close to his face, examining it half-heartedly. He continued talking, showing off his special ability to somehow be monotonous and whiny at the same time.

"Honestly, I just want to leave. My older brother made this hotpot for dinner, and he's a good cook. I never thought I'd miss work, but it's so pointless now. I feel like I'm wasting my life."

"You are." she replied. Natalia wasn't putting much heart into the sad excuse for a conversation either. Instead, she was attempting to braid her long, straight hair into and failing, putting more attention into her silvery blonde locks than her co worker. He didn't seem to care.

"You're super endearing, aren't you?" Leon asked sarcastically, setting the vase back down onto the table. The ceramic and polished wood met with a clicking noise. Natalia glared at him, squinting slightly as if he was something to bright to see.

"I'm a paralegal, not a hooker. If you want someone to sweet talk you, hire an escort. I don't have any obligation to talk to you about anything not relating to work. You _complaining _about work is the exception." Natalia said, dropping the strands of her hair that she had be playing with. She shifted in her chair, straightening her back to appear more intimidating. When they were both standing, Natalia was actually an inch taller than the 5'2" man, but he seemed strikingly poised when he was raised above her. It was annoying.

"How old are you, 30? No matter you care so much about work. It's all old people like." Leon muttered. His head was facing the other way so she could no longer see his expression.

"I'm 26. But I guess I'd seem old to you, because you're probably five years old," she snapped, grabbing the armrests and made to stand up. "It's amazing that you can count to 30, though. So, kudos."

What he had said was lighthearted teasing, but she didn't take it as such. Leon turned slightly and upon seeing her expression, scrambled off the desk.

"I was joking, geez. Old people can't take jokes now, can they?" he said, still intent his gibe. Natalia let out a growl and bared her teeth, standing up.

"I _CAN_ take a joke!" she hissed, fists clenched. Leon put his hands out, blocking her from walking any closer. He didn't look very fazed, but his movement suggested that he wasn't as calm as his expression made him out to be. Before either of them could say or do anything else, Ludwig's office door opened and out stepped the man himself.

His hair was freshly gelled, his jacket looking perfectly tailored as always. Ludwig's ice blue eyes stared coolly at Natalia and Leon, who stared back, caught like a pair of deer in headlights. After what seemed to be an eternity, he spoke.

"Well, I was going to wait until midday, but it seems that you two are eager to talk. My office, now."

Ludwig went back into his office. Glaring at Leon, Natalia walked briskly to his office, quickening her pace whenever she heard him catch up. She pulled the heavy door open and walked up to Ludwig's desk, pulled out a chair and sat in it. Ludwig was sitting at the other end, hands folded across the table. Leon took the seat next to her. Natalia felt like she was at a grade school principal's office, powerless and little to any choice he made. It was an awful feeling for anyone.

"Well," Ludwig said after a long moment of silence. "We will not be discussing what happened out there except for that I hope you two both mature. Now, down to business. I haven't yet explained the situation with Miss Lucia and her company, Eosos. Now, Eosos is a high-end makeup company based in Sicily that got into a spat with one of their models. Last month, a model sued them for using one of their images for something not mentioned in their contract. I do believe that Eosos is at fault, but Miss Lucia hired me to represent her in court. However, I disagreed with her methods and personality, and eventually she pulled out of our agreement together this morning at 6 AM. She's refusing to pay us for our work, and has already hired another lawyer. Mr. Køhler is currently rescheduling all my clients to fill in the holes in my agenda, and I have been trying to contact Miss Lucia all morning."

Leon raised his hand, and Ludwig nodded for him to speak.

"What will Natalia and I be doing?"

"Excellent question, Mr. Wang. The simple fact is that I don't have anything for either of you to do. Our plans have completely come to a halt. For the next week, I will not require any help from my paralegals. You need not show up for work tomorrow. I won't need you for the rest of the day either." Ludwig said. He seemed bitter to give them a break from work, and so was the life of a workaholic. Unable to stand a vacation. Natalia though about what her boss had just said.

"Is this a paid leave?" she asked.

"You will be paid for today, but other than that, no. It will be sent directly to your bank accounts. Any other questions?" he asked, eyes traveling from her face to Leon's. Leon muttered "no" and Natalia shook her head.

"Excellent. You can both leave at once." Ludwig said, pushing his chair back. "I'll see you next Thursday at 9 AM as usual. Until then, I wish you two well."

Natalia was ushered out of the room by Ludwig, slightly shocked by what he had just said. No work for a week? Without any source of income, she might as well start living off instant noodles, and to think that she might have dreamed of buying round trip tickets to Alaska to visit her family.

It didn't take long to put her belongings back in her purse. She took one last sip of the coffee but the drink was now nothing more than a watery mess, and Natalia gave it a resting place in the trash can. She kept the broken cell phone with her, wrapped it in a tissue to lessen the chance of her getting her fingers hurt again and put it in her purse. Leon walked up to her again and she looked warily at him.

"What?" Natalia asked, clutching her purse. Leon sighed.

"I just wanted to say bye. And sorry, I guess. So, bye." he said, repeating his words. The man waved an awkward goodbye to her and sped away, eager to leave work. It seemed he didn't have any second thoughts about being temporarily suspended from work, probably because he had the luxury of living with his siblings. How annoyingly enviable.

Zipping up her purse, she took the other route to the lifts.

The trip back home was uneventful. Her taxi driver was the normal, grouchy variation and she was thankful for that. The elevator back up was quiet and empty of elevator men, bankers, and struggling authors.

She unlocked her apartment, and was surprised to see that she hadn't been robbed. The way her day had gone, it wouldn't have been unexpected. The plate of breakfast scraps still sat in the sink and the bed still neat and tidy, the curtains were still closed. Exactly as she had left it.

Natalia turned the T.V. on, wandering through the channels until she found something suitable to be background noise as she did the dishes and made a dinner of crackers and pre cooked packaged ham. She read the updates on Pravda on her laptop. When the sky over New York began to darken, she poured herself a glass of something with spirit (although she wasn't exactly sure what it was) and spent the next five hours staring blankly at the white noise on a no-longer running channel, still holding the glass which had long since been emptied.

When the channel resumed its night broadcasting at 11 PM, it jerked Natalia awake from her idleness. She set the glass down onto the coffee table to be cleaned up tomorrow (or whenever she woke up) and stretched her arms, wincing as always when she bent her left arm a little too much. But it was alright. Her conditions were better now.

Yes, this was the way life should be for Natalia: in solitude, without any annoying people and distractions. It was nice, she thought, after climbing into bed and drifting to sleep. It was quiet, peaceful, liberating and…

Lonely.

Very, very lonely.

* * *

**Hello, Bubble here!**

**It's been a long time since I've written Fanfiction for any fandom, so I do hope that I've gotten the characterization close to Canon. Below is a character name list for everyone that appeared or was mentioned in this chapter. Thank you for reading up to here!**

**Natalia Arlovskaya—Belarus**

**Tino ****Väinämöinen**—**Finland**

**Roderich Edelstein—Austria**

**Raivis Galante—Latvia**

**Arthur Kirkland—England**

**Emil Steilsson—Iceland**

**Leon Wang—Hong Kong**

**Iryna Williams—Ukraine **

**Ivan ****Braginsky**—**Russia**

**Mathias K****øhler**—**Denmark**

**Ludwig ****Beilschmidt**—**Germany**

**Gilbert ****Beilschmidt**—**Prussia**

**Liying Ling—Taiwan**

**Vash Zwingli—Switzerland**

**Elizabeta ****Héderváry**—**Hungary**

**Manon Clovis—Belgium**

**Monique Lachance—Monaco**

**Francis Bonnefoy—France**

**...I think that's all! Once again, thank you for reading.**


	2. Chapter 2

**May 23rd, Friday.**

By the time Natalia woke up, sunlight was already shining through her thin linen curtains. She blinked a couple of times, her eyes adjusting to the light, then lifted the sheets above her head again.

It was still too bright to sleep in, much to her dismay. Groaning, Natalia kicked the blankets off her body and let them fall onto the floor. She dragged herself off the bed, rubbing her face. Her closed eyes and groggy walking resulted in her crashing into the wardrobe.

What a wonderful way to start the day.

The shock of her run-in woke Natalia up entirely, which was really the only good thing about it. Looking at herself, she realized she had gone to sleep in her work clothes. This didn't really surprise her, but it did rather suddenly remind Natalia of the great day she had had yesterday. She had slept through the morning and all the way to 12'o clock, according to the watch still clasped around her wrist. Undoing the latch of the timepiece, she decided it would be best to take a shower and think of activities to fill her nearly-empty daily agenda.

One uncomfortably lukewarm shower later, Natalia emerged from the washroom with her dripping wet hair wrapped in a towel; her body clothed with a bathrobe. She briefly wondered if she should change into actual clothing, but decided to wait until she needed to dress for her meet-up with Elizabeta and her friends. The thought of it made her mouth go dry. Why had she agreed to go out with them? Social activity was in no way Natalia's strong suit. At the moment 'Girl's Night Out' (as Elizabeta had put it) sounded more like a daunting quest than an entertaining romp downtown. Natalia cursed her spur-of-the-moment agreement.

Backing out wasn't an option for her. If she ever canceled any rendezvous between the two, Elizabeta would show up at her apartment and drag her out kicking and screaming. Unfortunately, Natalia had learned this the hard way back in college. If it weren't for the fact that Elizabeta was a decent person determination aside, Natalia would have ended their acquaintanceship long ago. Still, she wasn't sure what to wear. The last time she had worn anything close to a formal, non-work related dress was back when her sister got married, and even then Iryna had chosen it for her.

Plopping herself down on the couch, Natalia mulled over her limited clothing choices. She didn't really keep up with trends in the fashion world, and the outfits she bought were usually work clothes. Sighing, she decided that she'd check her closet when and if she ever bothered to get dressed. Natalia stared up at the light grey ceiling; every so often she could hear the people who lived in the flat above her's walk around. It was a nuisance. Something reflecting light caught her eye, and she realized that the glass and plate from last night were still lying on the coffee table. Natalia stared at the dishes, part of her hoping that if she glared at them enough, they would float up and clean themselves. Unsurprisingly, it didn't work.

She begrudgingly got off the sofa, picking the dishes up and taking them over to the sink. As she scrubbed the crumbs off the plate, Natalia couldn't help but ponder over how boring her days were. She remembered what had entered her mind right before she had fallen asleep; how secluded she was from everyone else. Sometimes, she went out of her way to push other people out of her bubble and unwarrantably insult them or irk them. It was all entertaining to Natalia, but at the end of the day it resulted in her only needing one hand to count the amount of friends she had. But that was fine, wasn't it? There wasn't a rule of life to befriend as many people as possible, or any at all. Really, Natalia was exceeding the universe's expectations.

She dried the plate and put it on the countertop and turned to check the digital clock on the microwave, and saw that a little more than an hour had past. Without work, Natalia had nothing more to do besides household chores and dusting everything up, and set to do exactly that.

The carpet had been vacuumed, the windows wiped and the bed made by the time the blonde woman checked the clock again and saw that it was forty minutes to six. Natalia had to face her challenge and dress up.

However, upon opening the wardrobe and looking closer, she saw that she really only had one dress suitable for Elizabeta's bar. It was sleeveless and skin tight and went down to her mid-thighs. The color scheme was simple: dark blue with a horizontal hourglass shape in the middle. Natalia couldn't remember where she bought it, but it didn't matter. It was good enough for her.

She changed into the dress and brushed her hair out; after a few attempts of applying makeup with panda-like results, Natalia washed her face clean. It would be fine to go makeupless. After giving herself one last scowl in the mirror, she left her apartment.

Another uneventful taxi ride later, she arrived at the Power Bar. It had an awful name, now that she thought about it. It was underground with some wide cement stairs leading down to the nightclub and a few people milling outside. The white neon signs outside the bar lit up the sky and its setting sun, and Natalia found that it was not much darker in the actual building either. In fact, it was blindingly flashy.

The walls were black, but there seemed to be an infinite amount of strobe lights in the room, casting pink, blue and green around the room. Electronic pop music blared from speakers planted randomly around the room; a few people were dancing somewhat-drunkenly on a small LED dance floor in the center of the room, but mostly everyone was sitting at a booth. The club smelled like sweat and dust masked under a layer of air freshener. Natalia turned around and made to leave, but was suddenly intercepted by a familiar someone.

"Nata! You're late! Elizabeta and I were wondering where you were. Come on, we're sitting over here." Manon Clovis chirped, her hand gripping firmly onto Natalia's arm. The sight of her made Natalia jump a bit, after all, the 5'10" woman towered over the not-so tall Natalia. Manon led her to a large circle booth on the other side of the club, and walking through the commotion was something close to torture. They bumped into several dancers, and one particular table was being very noisy. A strawberry blonde man drinking there clamored onto the table and turned to his friends, raising a large glass of something above his head.

"Who wants to see Arthur drink all of this in a minute?" the man said, waving the glass around. The spirit spilled over the edges of the glass, leaving about a quarter of it left. His drinking buddies cheered loudly, and an oddly familiar scruffy, blond-haired man stood up and took it from him. Before Natalia could see what he did, Manon stopped at their booth. Natalia's brows furrowed when she saw who was there; it certainly wasn't all Elizabeta had said would be there.

Elizabeta was leaning against the table, an order slip in her hand as she chatted with Monique Lachance, the latter sitting on the booth seat with perfect posture. On her left was her cousin Francis Bonnefoy, staring at his own reflection on a polished teaspoon. Next to him was Elizabeta's on-again, off-again boyfriend Roderich with a peeved expression on his face as Francis rambled about himself.

"Natalia! You're late. You do know that the meeting time was six, right?" Elizabeta said, waving her over. Manon let go of her arm and moved past Roderich to sit next to Francis. Natalia responded with a half-hearted shrug.

"Traffic was shit, but that doesn't matter. Elizabeta, I thought you said it'd be a _girl's _night out," she said, gesturing to Francis and Roderich. Elizabeta shrugged innocently, taking out a black pen and uncapping it.

"They work with Manon, and they're not bad anyways. Besides, the more the merrier, yeah? Yeah." The brunette woman said before Natalia could disagree. "Now, what can I get you?"

"Chopin," Natalia ordered, "with coffee and milk. Add ice."

Elizabeta raised a perfectly penciled-in eyebrow at her. "You do know you just ordered a White Russian, right? Vodka, coffee and milk on the rocks. That's literally a White Russian."

"Fine. I want that." Natalia said, taking a seat at the booth next to Roderich. He had glanced up when she mentioned 'Chopin', but was now reading through a thick book placed on the table, paying attention to no one even as Elizabeta clicked her tongue for attention. The others turned to her.

"Right, so I've got a Cabernet Sauvignon for Francis, strawberry beer for Manon, hot water and lemon for Roddy, a White Russian for Natalia and Rosé d'Anjou for Monique. That's all, right?"

"Actually, Elizabeta, I'd like my water to be lukewarm instead of hot. Hot water may scald my mouth and result in unfavorable." Roderich said, sounding slightly stuffy as always. Elizabeta scribbled his request down.

"You got it. No other changes? Great, I'll be back with the drinks in a few." With that, Elizabeta left their booth. Natalia turned to Monique.

"Aren't you 20?" she asked, her ever-present frown becoming more pronounced. Monique let out a light laugh, as did Francis.

"_Ma belle Natalie_, I am Monegasque. Back home, I could have started drinking two years ago." Monique said, tucking a long strand of luxurious dirty blonde hair behind her ear, revealing a dangling diamond earring on a thin gold chain. "I am turning 21 in Janvier."

"Besides, Natalia, you certainly aren't a tattletale, are you?" her cousin said, leaning against the sofa back and putting his arm on top of the booth, directly above Manon. Francis used his other hand to smooth his red silk tie. Natalia's eyelid twitched. The two cousins were really too wealthy and flamboyant for their own good, and they didn't seem to have any problem with flashing it proudly. She decided not to answer, trying to look away from Monique's mink fur-trimmed coat dress and Francis' tailor-made designer jacket.

Manon smiled mischievously at Natalia who realized she had been idly staring at her. Natalia always found it curious how the curly haired woman's smile was always oddly cat-like.

"Nata, how's are you?" Manon asked, trying to start a conversation. The indigo-eyed

woman shrugged as she recalled the events of the previous day.

"Horrible," Natalia finally answered. "I'm essentially unemployed for the next week, and have no source of income. My phone broke yesterday, and so did my boss' coffee machine."

Roderich's head snapped up at the mention of his roommate, but winced and thumped his hand against his back before speaking. Natalia mused that anyone watching him would think that the black-haired man was a ninety-year old man in a 29 year old's body; he was so out of shape that sometimes she wondered if he wore a corset. It was the only explanation she could think of for how he looked so fit, yet was so incredibly out of shape. Finally, he set his hands down and cleared his throat.

"You broke Ludwig's coffee machine, Arlovskaya?" he asked, his dark blue eyes staring intensly at her.

"Yes." she said, waving her hand nonchalantly. "Don't you two share a flat? He would have told you."

"He didn't come home from work last night." Roderich said, his voice clipped. Francis joined in on their conversation with a rather irrelevant topic.

"My adorable little cousin and I share a flat. Well, actually it's a penthouse on Park Avenue. We have a excellent view of the city, especially on the south side because we have a ceiling to floor glass wall. It's very thick glass, so there's no safety worry. All the walls in my penthouse are very thick, so it's alright to be loud. Manon…" he said, winking at the woman. She gave him an endearing smile and opened her mouth, but Rodrich cleared his throat

"Thank you for your _highly _unnecessary comments, Bonnefoy." he said dryly. It was clear that Francis' intrusion had leached away any desire to continue his conversation with Natalia. Meanwhile, the Frenchman had taken to Manon's smile and had slid even closer to her, now talking enthusiastically about his lavish penthouse. Monique had returned to her normally poker-faced and regal looking self, no longer laughing with Francis. To Natalia's surprise, the young woman turned her attention to her. She reached across the table and tapped her finger for Natalia's attention. Monique's cornflower blue eyes focused on her through her circle glasses, her head slightly tilted in question.

"Natalia, you said that you broke your phone, yes?" Monique asked, her voice thoughtful. "Tomorrow, I do not have school."

Natalia frowned slightly as she tried to follow Monique's train of thought. She knew that Monique had moved to New York for university, but why that related to her phone was lost on her. Monique ignored her pondering and continued her steadfast talking.

"On my weekends I work at a boutique on Fifth Avenue, and there is a electronics store on that street. Tomorrow, I can take you with me to Fifth Avenue and you can get your new phone. Is that good?" she suggested, her hands folded on top of the table as if Monique were proposing a business contract. Natalia glared at her with somewhat hostile confusion, wondering why someone she wasn't very close too would want to help her.

"Why would it matter to you?" Natalia asked, her slightly raspy voice laced with suspicion. Monique gave her a fluid shrug.

"Well, it's convenient for me, so I am not taking much time off, and I am not heartless. I won't be paying for you, but I think you wouldn't want me to." Monique said. The platinum blonde woman glowered at Monique's accurate inference; she seemed to have a talent in reading people.

"I wouldn't need you to help me pay for it anyways. I have a contract." Natalia growled, before realizing how childish her words sounded and winced internally. "But fine, if you must insist."

Monique sighed, but seemed content with Natalia's answer. "I'll drive by your apartment tomorrow to pick you up early at ten in the morning."

"I'd much rather meet you there myself." Natalia said quickly. "I prefer privacy."

For the second time that night, Monique laughed. "Oh, dear _Natalie_. I already know where you live, so you would not need to give me your address. I will meet you there myself." Natalia decided not to argue with the other woman, and instead folded her arms and sighed. With anyone else she would have considered that dodgy, but it seemed Monique knew almost glanced around everyone else at the circular table.

Francis and Manon were still talking; Manon had turned the conversation away from Francis' flirting and into a serious discussion apparently proper enough for Roderich to join. Natalia wondered if it had to do with Manon's bistro, which would be the only topic she could see the three discussing together with actual thought. After all, Roderich and Francis both worked at the bistro.

"Have you heard from your brother yet, Miss Clovis? You two co-manage the restaurant and we can't wait on him forever." Roderich said. Manon shook her head and sighed, but her tone was optimistic as she spoke.

"He hasn't messaged me, but I'm sure he'll reply soon. Being a merchant is obviously exhausting, and Abel has to adjust back to living in the Netherlands, right? There's time zones and a new environment." Manon said, confident in her brother. Francis laughed dryly and ran his finger through his wavy blond hair, more for style than from stress.

"Ma cherie, your brother's been in the Netherlands for over two months. If he still had jet lag, he would be a medical revolution." he said, leaning over to her slightly and putting his hand over hers. Manon blinked a couple of times.

"He wouldn't do that, would he?" she asked, her cheerful tone faltering midway. Manon groaned and covered her face with her hands. "Yeah, he would. Dear lord, Abel is such _merde_."

Francis patted her hand sympathetically, and Roderich's gaze shifted from Manon to Natalia as he sat uncomfortably, not entirely sure what to do. Thankfully, something saved them in the nick of time.

"Sorry to keep you waiting! There was a pile up at the bar 'cause us staff had to clean up a mess at one of the booths. Apparently some man drank like, half a glass of whiskey and couldn't keep it in. Nothing spectacular, I think he was actually a weak drinker. But y'know, shit happens." Elizabeta said, setting down their ordered beverage in front of them as she prattled on. Natalia rolled her eyes.

"Right, this is going to make drinking all the more exciting, isn't it?" she groused, taking her White Russian from Elizabeta without a word of thanks. "Nothing's more fun than downing alcohol after a delicious description by Elizabeta Héderváry."

Elizabeta winked at her. "That's the spirit." she said, jesting at Natalia. The blonde woman hissed under her breath, then took a small sip of her drink. It was decent even if it did have more ice than liquid. Roderich took his warm water with lemon and tested the temperature with a pocket thermometer he apparently kept in his jacket's pocket. Francis stared at Roderich, looking a bit like he was trying not to spit out red wine onto his pristine white suit from laughter. Instead, he gulped it down and turned to Elizabeta.

"Merci, 'lisa. I will forever admire your persistence, but not your choice in men." he said, gesturing to Roderich with one hand and handing Elizabeta a one hundred dollar bill with the other. Elizabeta's green eyes widened, and she took the money with a grin on her face.

"Well, for ten grand, I'll choose you." Elizabeta quipped. Francis stared smugly up at her, arms now folded across his chest. Roderich looked rather put-off with the other man's flirting with his girlfriend, but Manon rolled her eyes in pretend-exasperation at their exchange. Natalia noted that more than half of Manon's beer had already been finished in the two minutes that Elizabeta had been at their table.

"Now, does anyone else have tips for your wonderfully gracious waitress? C'mon, I live off tips." Elizabeta said, spreading her arms wide. Monique passed her a thick stack of neatly-folded ten dollar bills wrapped in a satin ribbon. Manon, however, managed to put together a few dollar bills. Manon handed the bills to Elizabeta with an apologetic smile on her face.

"I'm sorry, Eliza, but you know I'm not exactly in the best of money times right now." she said. "I mean, my cat is going through surgery and now that my brother's gone, I have to pay rent myself. When he sends me money, I'll pay you back, promise!"

Elizabeta's mouth thinned at the mention of Manon's brother and refused her tip, passing it back to her. "Thanks, hon, but I'm not going to take a cent from you until your douche brother pays you. That's just not right."

Manon looked relieved but still guilty as she took her money back from Elizabeta and thanked her. Elizabeta turned to Natalia for tips, but she scooted away from her; the waitress left after that. Natalia swirled her drink in its glass as she contemplated Manon's words.

"I thought your brother's name was Henri." she said to Manon. There was little memory of Manon's personal life in Natalia's mind, but she did remember a few facts. The tall woman shook her head slowly, her short strawberry blonde curls moving fluidly with the motion.

"Henri's my baby brother. He's a sweetie, and he's still in Uni at Boston. I can't make him pay me—he's only 18! Abel is my older brother." Manon explained, drink in hand. She took a sip and continued. "He moved to Rotterdam a while back, and I haven't heard from him since. He promised he'd send me money and mail letters when ever he could. Maybe he's just busy."

"He's not. He's ignoring you." Natalia said curtly, slamming her glass onto the table. Manon stared at Natalia, grass green eyes wide with shock as she continued. "Trust me, it's happened with my siblings."

"They ignored you?" Manon asked in a hushed tone, leaning toward her across the table. Natalia grunted.

"No. I didn't bother to call or message much them after I moved to New York eight years ago, and the last time I saw either of them was at my sister's wedding three years back. Honestly, just give up on him answering you." she said dryly, picking up a straw and stirring it into her drink. Manon balked, but her voice remained firm as she answered.

"I'm sure he'll come around. He's busy, that's all." she said, trying to keep an optimistic smile on her face. Natalia shrugged.

"If you say so." She paused for a second, carefully considering her next words. "Good luck to you, though." What would have sounded cold and uncaring from anyone else was what Natalia considered "incredibly friendly."

Manon stared at Natalia, surprised, then at the strawberry beer in her hands and raised it to her lips, draining the contents of the glass and set it back down on the table before standing up suddenly. Everyone turned to her.

"Well, it's been a nice night with you all, but it's against my personal morals to drink to forget myself. If I stay here, I'm afraid I'll do just that, so I think I'll be heading home now." Manon said, matter-of-factly. Francis gave her a confused look.

"But you've been here for just a little more than an hour. You can't leave so early in the night." he said. Natalia could have sworn she saw his normally perfect hair wilt from sadness. Manon waved her hand dismissively.

"Maybe you won't but I think I'll be alright. Tell Elizabeta 'thanks' for me. Francis, Roderich, see you on Sunday at work!" she said, her chiffon chocolate-colored dress swishing around her knees as she walked past Roderich and Natalia and threw on a long cardigan. Natalia remembered the few crumpled bills Manon had had.

"Are you going to have enough for a taxi?" she asked, the slightest bit of concern in her voice. Manon laughed.

"Oh, I'm just going to run home. It's not a really cold night anyways." she said, completely serious. Roderich shook his head, doing his duty of preventing anyone from physical labor.

"Miss Clovis, you live on the other side of Manhattan. Any of us would be happy to pay a taxicab for you. Don't endanger yourself." Roderich said, his brows furrowing.

"I'll be fine, Roderich. Lord, you've all turned into a bunch of worry-warts haven't you? A jog will clear my head, and I have enough money for a short cab ride. If I get tired halfway, that'll be my backup plan. So don't worry about me. and good night!" Manon said loudly over the dance music before running off to the exit, pulling the heavy glass doors open, and rushing out. No one else in the club paid her any attention, but the others that had been at her table were all slightly miffed. Francis slumped against the sofa back.

"Francis, sit up straight." Monique said, thumping him on the back. He lurched up and Natalia rolled her eyes at the two. Even with the cousin's bickering in the background, she wondered what had gotten into Manon. Natalia couldn't think of anything that would have made her upset enough to leave. Maybe she was just overreacting; after all, if she really wanted her brother to message her, she would hunt him down herself. It's certainly what Natalia would do.

Musing about her siblings, she decided one thing: as soon as she got a new phone, she would call Ivan and then Iryna. She had been a reclusive younger sister for too long. Surely, her brother and sister would be overjoyed to talk to her again. It would be nice to catch up.

Natalia finished the rest of her drink as she imagined the conversation she would have, so lost in thought that she paid no attention to anyone else at the table until Elizabeta came to the booth.

"Hey, my shift just ended, so I can spend the rest of my night with you guys." she said excitedly, before frowning. "Wait, where's Manon gone too? Bathroom? She's not dancing again, is she?"

"No." Francis said morosely. "She left because _someone _made her upset." Natalia saw that he was staring somewhat frustratedly at her. Clearly he blamed her.

"It's not my fault. Maybe she didn't like your face or something." Natalia drawled, setting down her glass. He huffed and crossed his arms.

"She became upset after you started talking about how Abel wasn't writing her back and brushed it off. You weren't sympathetic at all. _Tu n'êtes pas douce_, Natalia." he said, sounding annoyingly aloof.

"Okay, you already know I can't speak French. Now you're just being a pretentious bitch, Francis." Natalia said dryly. "God, just leave me out of this. She didn't stay for you, okay? Get over it."

Francis scoffed, clearly not very affected by her scathing remarks. "My Natalia, I never mentioned me. I truly do care for her feelings; I was saying that you drove her away with your poor attitude. It's not hard to see why."

Natalia rolled her eyes. She could sense Roderich's wariness and Monique's eyes upon both of them as they argued.

"Maybe your personality isn't the peachiest either, Mr. 'I'm-not-even-from-France.'" she spat. It was a huge insult to the Massachusetts native, who was always proud of his French heritage and had studied for years to perfect his French. He stared wide eyed at her, choking from anger. Elizabeta quickly intervened, leaning against the table and covering both of their mouths. Natalia tried to pry the tan woman's hand off of her mouth, but Elizabeta was too strong.

"Alright, you two, stop bickering! Manon may have left early, but the rest of us are going to enjoy the night _if it kills us_. Let's all get a round of drinks. Beer? Let's get beer. We need beer." she said, her expression cheerful; her tone threatening. Natalia furrowed her brows and frowned up at Elizabeta as she removed her hand. She opened her mouth to complain.

"Can't I just l—"

"Leave? No, you can't _leave_. I already ordered beer. Look, beer! I can't drink this all by myself, guys. You've all got to stay and help me finish it off." Elizabeta snapped, snatching a tray of spirit from a passing waiter. She was still wearing her uniform (a white blouse and black vest with a logo), so they didn't question her. Roderich raised his hand formally and spoke.

"Elizabeta, I think you're a bit anxious. Don't force them to drink." The bespectacled man said this even as he reached to take a glass. His girlfriend bristled for a second, before sighing.

"I just want everyone to enjoy themselves. You know how it is, right, darling?" Elizabeta said to Roderich. She had a puppy-dog look in her emerald colored eyes as she spoke to him. Monique cleared her throat.

"I'm enjoying myself, Elizabeta, and my cousin did too. He's simply upset over the leave of his _cherie_. Drinking will help him." Monique said. The youngest woman slid a beer over to Francis, who pouted and slid away from it.

"I only like red wine." he grumbled, sticking his nose up. The usually genteel man was still cross from his earlier argument. Natalia growled. He truly was one of the most irritating men on the planet.

"Is it because you're a _whiney_ fu—"

Her grousing was once again interrupted by Elizabeta who slapped her hand over her mouth again. Natalia jerked back, coughing. Elizabeta gave her a meaningful look before turning to the others. Francis had apparently decided not to react to Natalia's insult.

"Monique, I'm very glad you're having fun. Roderich, you too. Now, why don't we all just enjoy ourselves and relax?" Elizabeta said, gesturing with her free hand at the drinks. Natalia leaned against the seat back with the other woman's hand still clasped over her mouth.

As far as she was concerned, Natalia was done drinking for the night.

**May 24th, Saturday.**

At two AM the next day, the dance floor's lights were turned off as the Power bar prepared to close up for the morning. The people who still remained all groaned in disappointment as they were given a thirty minute warning to leave, some of them intoxicated. As everyone started to slowly exit one by one, Natalia woke up.

She had fallen asleep around 11 PM while Elizabeta, Francis and Roderich were dancing. Monique had drifted away from the table to talk to a small group of young men around her age at around the same time; she had returned while Natalia was asleep though and was now sitting next to her. The blue eyed girl was still awake and sitting with perfect posture. Monique started talking in a hush tone when she saw that Natalia was no longer asleep.

"_Salut, Natalie_. Did you sleep well?" Monique asked courteously. Natalia shook her head and yawned.

"Well, I've had better nights." Natalia muttered, combing her tangled hair with her fingers. "It's time to leave, isn't it?"

Monique watched as Natalia pushed a sleeping Francis off of her and stood up, her purse clutched tightly to her chest as if someone would run up to her and take it. It wasn't until the indigo lady was about to walk to the door to leave that Monique spoke again.

"_Natalie_, don't forget you're coming with me to the Fifth Avenue at ten o'clock." she reminded.

"I haven't forgotten." Natalia said, not having turned around when the other woman spoke.

"Well, until then." Monique said as Natalia walked away. She didn't answer, but Monique couldn't tell if it was because Natalia hadn't heard her, or if she simply couldn't be bothered to. Either way, she wouldn't be surprised.

* * *

**Hello again, readers! This chapter is a bit shorter than the last one, but guess who you're meeting in the next one? **

**A big "Thank You" to everyone who favorited. followed or reviewed for Chapter One. Continue to do so, please! ;D**

**Much love to my beta editors, Lux and Noël. **

**-Bubble**

**P.S.: Don't do what Monique does, kids. Drink only when you're legally allowed to.**


	3. Chapter 3

**May 24th, Saturday.**

She was sitting on a couch in the middle of the sitting room, long since have changed out of tge blue dress. Natalia tapped her fingers on the window. The chinking, bright sound of nails against glass rang through the silence of her apartment's living room. It was cold for near-summer weather, but the woman didn't mind. The cold reminded her of hometown

_Tap. Tap. Tap._

Her breath was warm, and the window fogged up when she pressed her face against the glass to look outside. She used the sleeve of her bathrobe to wipe the condensation away and stared at the navy blue sky and dots of illuminated windows outside her window. Occasionally, one would go off or another window would turn on, but that was unsurprising for the city that never slept. Still, it was different from where Natalia had grown up. Sitka, Alaska, while having a decent population compared to other cities in the Last Frontier, was nothing when held against the millions of people in New York City; Sitka didn't even have ten thousand people.

It was better in New York, Natalia had decided when she first moved. There were so many people that no one would remember a stranger's face. She had decided that she would be invisible while in the city—whether or not she had succeeded was debatable.

The brown couch let out a groaning, creaking sound as the woman readjusted herself and closed the curtains. Her bedside LED clock chirped thrice: three AM. She rested her head on the window and snuggled into her robe, her eyelids drooping with no resistance from the woman. The ticking of a watch replaced the tapping of her fingers as she slowly fell asleep.

* * *

_Tap. Tap. Tap. _

Natalia awoke with a start. Her hair covered her face and a large knot of her platinum blonde locks rested on the side of her head. tried to brush the knot out with her fingers, but winced when her hand tangled in her hair as well and gave up.

_Tap. Tap. Tap._

Was someone knocking? Natalia glanced warily over to the door, wondering who it could before the realization hit her like a ton of bricks. There was a sour taste in her mouth as she stood up and shuffled slowly toward the door and glanced through the peephole, the knowledge of who it was creeping into her brain..

Monique Lachance stood outside the wooden door leading into Natalia's apartment, her white-leather gloved hand rapping against the door. Natalia groaned and unchained the door, cracking it open slightly.

"Good morning, _Natalie_." Monique said, straightening up. Her long, wavy medium blonde hair was braided into a fishtail braid today and looked as perfect as it had been the night before. Her cornflower blue eyes stared unimpressed at Natalia's rumpled hair and clothes as she opened the door all the way.

"Hmm." Natalia grunted, not looking at the other woman. Monique continued talking.

"It's almost a quarter past ten, Natalia. I would have thought you'd be up by now. You seemed eager to buy a new phone."

Natalia let out a dry, clipped laugh. "I'm eager for nothing, Monique." Still, as she snarked with the other woman, Natalia wondered if it was true. After she got a new phone, she could talk to her family, and the thought of it was exciting for her. Monique coughed quietly to get Natalia's attention.

"I think you should get changed now, Natalia, before someone sees you." Monique said, gesturing at her bathrobe. "Please hurry though; I have to go to work by eleven."

Natalia wondered why someone as rich as Monique would _need _to work, but decided not to ask. She closed the door once again, walked over to the wardrobe and pulled out a white blouse and navy blue trousers. Natalia put them on and ran her fingers through her tangled hair before deciding that it was a lost cause. She slipped on a pair of black heels and slung her purse over her shoulders before reopening the door.

"Are we ready?" Monique asked. "Good, let's go."

They walked downstairs to the ground floor and hailed a taxicab. Monique gave the rather harassed-looking driver directions and turned to Natalia after the car started.

"Do you know how you're going to get your new phone?" Monique asked, adjusting her glasses.

"I printed out a copy of my contract yesterday. If I did it right, it should already be in store for me to pick up. If they don't fuck things up, I'll probably leave within an hour." Natalia replied.

"Well, you shouldn't wait for me," Monique said, and continued despite Natalia opening her mouth to speak. "And I know you weren't planning to, so there's no need to quip."

Natalia scowled. "You think you know me so well, don't you?"

Monique stared at Natalia, a somewhat-smug smile on her face, reminiscent of her cousin Francis. She straightened the nonexistent wrinkles in her fitted pencil skirt and fixed the gold chain of her necklace.

"Last night, after you fell asleep, Manon messaged me. She got to her loft safe last night." Monique informed Natalia.

"Your cousin must be happy." Natalia noted. Monique shrugged.

"He is hungover. Francis was still asleep when I left this morning. I didn't tell him—look, it seems we're here."

The taxi driver pulled over and Natalia opened the door as Monique paid the driver. Monique stepped away and onto the curb as the cab drove to a new set of passengers and turned to the other woman.

"You know where to go, yes?" Monique asked. Natalia rolled her eyes.

"I've lived here for eight years. Of course I do."

"I see. I work over there, in the boutique with the cream and pink striped awning. Stop by and tell me before you leave." Monique instructed, pointing out a particularly fussy-looking shop.

"Why should I?" Natalia asked warily. "You and I don't have similar fashions, after all. I shouldn't have to check in with you."

Monique tilted her chin up, glancing at Natalia from the corner of her eye as they walked.

"We're having a sale this week. I thought you might be interested." She said. Natalia stared away from Monique, her eyes instead focused on the buildings and cars and people on Fifth Avenue. Each building exterior was painted a dingy, dull color: if it wasn't light brown, it was taupe or cold grey stone. Today was a dingy, grey-skied day; one of Natalia's favorite type of weathers where everyone seemed too tired to do shops tried to stand out with bold or flashy signs,but nothing could distract from the towering, dull buildings that seemed to brush the sky. Honestly, the pink awning, although painful to look at, was at least interesting.

"Fine. I'll go if I must. Bye." Natalia groused. Monique sighed and gave her a tentative smile before nudging Natalia toward the electronics store. Natalia sharply turned away from Monique and walked toward a highly illuminated building. It was made of glass and had a stairway leading down. As she descended, she heard the drone of chatter grow louder. When she arrived on the last step, Natalia found herself in a highly crowded room.

There were long glass tables with hundreds of different kinds of tablets and phones on display. A larger circular table held some large computers and laptops, and the walls had packages of every kind of wire and adapter available. A few people bumped into her on the way out, and she heard someone cough loudly. Natalia bristled. How was she supposed to find her phone in such a claustrophobic space?

Her question was answered just as she was about to leave. A man with ash blond hair and a milky white complexion walked up to Natalia. He was wearing a blue polo shirt and a nametag on a lanyard. An employee.

"Welcome. How can I help you?" He asked. His words sounded rehearsed and he didn't look too welcoming. Natalia opened her purse and took out the printed receipt.

"I ordered a phone last night on the website, and it told me it was ready to be picked up. Where can I get it?"

The man peered uninterestedly at the paper on her hand.

"Hell if I know. I'll get someone to look at it for you. Be right back."

He walked away and into the crowd before Natalia could respond. She took a step back and frowned; customer service must have seriously declined since she last remembered. After a few minutes of standing awkwardly, the monotonous employee came back.

"Okay, here. He can help you with whatever. I'm going to go take a nap in the storage room now."

"See you, Lukas. You're joking about the nap, right?"

Lukas had brought another employee to help Natalia. The other man was tall and fit, with hair the color of gold and bright eyes. The blue eyed man waved goodbye to Lukas, then turned to Natalia. The nametag on his lanyard read "ALFRED J:HAPPY TO HELP!"

"Hey, I'm Alfred. What did you need?" He asked, an endearing smile on his face. Natalia shoved the paper into his arms. He caught it and read it, muttering under his breath until he finished and looked back at her.

"So, Miss Arovalaska?" He said slowly, reading and mispronouncing her name. Natalia scowled.

"It's Arlovskaya." She groused.

"Miss Arkloskava—"

"'Natalia' will be fine, Alfred. Just keep talking." She snapped, crossing her arms. Alfred cleared his throat and continued speaking.

"Well, Natalia, your order should be in the pick up center. I'm not really sure how you missed it, actually. It's right there," he said pointing to a white circular desk made of shiny, glossy plastic that glowed. A girl with short plum colored hair and an employee uniform sat at the counter with a harassed expression on her face, writing on a piece of paper. Natalia shrugged.

"Too many people, I guess it was hidden because of the crowd. Well, thanks. Bye." She said, making to walk away. Alfred stopped her.

"Don't you need your papers? Also, I have to go with you. Sakura's shift ends in like, two seconds, and you need someone with the key to open the display case." Alfred said pointedly. She stared blankly at him before shaking her head in disbelief and walking away to the pick up center. Alfred grinned and skidded after her, sliding on the polished floors and crashing into the desk. The short haired woman (Natalia guessed she was Sakura) jumped and looked around before seeing Alfred. She shook her head in mock exasperation.

"Alfred, you're going to destroy this store one day. My shift is over now though, right?" Sakura asked; her voice was light and sweet but rough. Alfred nodded and gave her a salute in jest. Sakura slid off her chair and hung up her lanyard on a wall-mounted hook before waving good bye to Alfred. Natalia cleared her throat and tapped Alfred on the shoulder. He turned around and gave Natalia an apologetic grin,

"Sorry, dude. Just saying goodbye to Sakura. Right, Natalia, you need your phone?" Alfred said, his sky blue eyes sparkling enthusiastically at her.

"Obviously. Can you hurry up or something? Personally, I don't really care about you or your friend's fond farewell." she spat back, pointing to where Sakura was organizing her purse at the beginning of the stairs. Alfred laughed but Natalia couldn't figure if it was because he was forgiving her jibe or if it was because he too was stupid to notice them. She figured that it was a mixture of both. Alfred brushed past her and unlocked the door to a case underneath the pick-up table and crouched down, looking through the box of orders.

Natalia dully noticed that Alfred's polo shirt fit snugly around his shoulders and chest. He looked like the type of person who frequented gyms and because of that had developed muscles. She supposed that he was attractive in a classic All-American poster boy kind of way, and the fact that there were a small gaggle of teenaged girls standing behind her giggling over him supported this. But really, Natalia was more concerned that if she and Alfred started brawling for whatever reason that he would win. She was almost certain that it wouldn't happen, but it never hurt to be prepared.

"Natalia, I think this is yours. It is, right?" he asked, standing back up and handing a small white parcel to her. She quickly snatched it from his hands and turned the box over, reading the mailing sticker and scowling when she saw that they had spelled her name as _Natalie Arlovesky_. No wonder Alfred had gotten her last name wrong. She flipped it back to the over side and pushed her long platinum blonde hair over her shoulders.

"Do I have to sign anything?" Natalia asked.

"Yeah, gimme a sec. These papers tend to get jumbled when I'm not looking." Alfred said filing through binders until pulling out her form. She filled it out and handed the blue sheet back to him; he read through it while mouthing the words and double checked on her contract. He got up once and left for a minute before coming back with something small and plastic in his hands and put it in the phone. After a minute, he set the papers back on the table counter and gave Natalia a hospitable smile.

"Right, you take the white sheet and I keep the blue sheet. You can try your phone out now. It's already fully charged and stuff, and I put the same type of memory card in it so you have the same number and contacts. Well, I added one, of course." Alfred said, tilting his head toward the phone and giving her a small wink. Natalia's face turned bright red and she thrust the parcel back into his hands. He was pushed back slightly, and he looked confused as Natalia bared her teeth.

"Take the damn phone back, pervert. I'll buy a fucking carrier pigeon before I ever call you, you awful, sleezy, scum of th—"

Alfred's look of confusion turned into understanding, and then he started laughing. Natalia glared at him, taking a large step forward and making her steps sound loud on purpose. Her left leg wobbled a bit when she stomped because of her heels but she tried to look intimidating. It didn't work, as Alfred just kept laughing.

"Pfft—Sorry, give me a sec—HAHA—One mo—" He was cut off by another round of benign laughter. Natalia crossed her arms and stared down at him: a grown man bent over on the floor of a electronics store from laughter. Really, customer service was on a serious decline. People should really watch who they hire.

Natalia let out an impatient growl, and at this Alfred regained his breath and let out a couple of short coughs to keep from his continued laughter.

"Do you think I put _my _number in your phone?" he asked, though not rudely. Natalia gave him a stiff nod and glowered, her eyes like ice. Alfred's sunny disposition melted whatever insults she was sending at him and he ignored the glare.

"Oh man, I am _so_ sorry for the mix up! Nah, I put in the number for this store in case you needed repairs or something. I read the cause of damage of your old phone on your order form Cracked screen and waterlogged? Must of been some day." He remarked, holding the white box with her phone out to her. "Do you want your phone back?"

Natalia's face was now the same color as the Cabernet Sauvignon that had been in Francis' glass last night. The woman shuffled forward in a embarrassed but still dignified manner and pulled the box out of his hands. Natalia stared intensely at the box, refusing to meet the eyes of the golden haired man and to apologize for her outburst. Alfred just had to continue talking.

"I'd totally give you my number if you wanted me to, though. You seem pretty cool. Like, in the scary way, but still cool." Alfred said in complete sincerity. He gave her a dazzling, somewhat cheesy grin with his perfectly white teeth. Her head snapped up and she gave him an unfriendly, hostile stare in return.

"Don't think for a second that I liked you.. I'm going to give you a horrible Yelp review when I go home, Alfred J." Natalia spat, although even in her mind it hadn't sounded threatening.

"You're welcome to, Natalia. Freedom of speech and everything, yeah? You're pleading the First, and I respect that. That's what America is for, after all."

There was an awkward moment of silence as Alfred looked up at the ceiling as if he were contemplating the entire history of the United States of America; he resumed talking shortly thereafter. "But, hey, for future reference, my name is Alfred F. Jones. Hit me up some time, yeah?" he said, his focus back on her

Natalia grimaced.

"Well then, I decline your offer for your telephone number and to "hit you up." I'd gladly slap you right now if that's what you meant, though. It'd be pointless for me to tell you my name, because I doubt you'd have the wits to pronounce it and you'll hardly need to say it ever again." she said. Alfred looked down at the blue sheet of paper in his hands with her order information.

"Well, there's that and the fact that your name is written right here." Alfred said, lifting the paper for her to see. Natalia folded her arms across her chest.

"That wasn't meant to be taken literally, idiot, but I'm surprised you know how to read. I assumed you couldn't, judging by your intellect."

"Thanks, Natalia Arlovesky. I hope you have a good day."

Natalia turned around with her mouth only slightly opened for a retort—was the impudent man _sassing _her?—, but by then Alfred was already busy talking to the silver haired worker from earlier. Shaking her head in disgust, Natalia ran back up the steps to the outside world, holding the box close to her chest.

"Hello and welcome to—Natalia?"

Monique blinked and stood up, smoothing out her powder pink blazer and the small plastic name tag clipped to it. Natalia trudged into the boutique, her new phone tucked safely into her purse. She looked around the store with mild curiosity.

The walls were a dusty rose pink and the floor was a rosy pink marble. The stands were white marble with piles of clothes (mostly made of chiffon and bows) and under those stands were posh looking heels. There lights were low and a few people were milling around the shop. Monique was at the cashier desk with no customers to assist; however, she _was _talking to someone. It was a young man around Monique's age with cinnamon colored hair and tanned skin. He was chatting amicably with Monique, occasionally moving his hands around as he spoke. Monique hushed him when she noticed Natalia walking slowly throughout the shop.

"You came out later than I thought you would. Did something happen?" Monique asked. Natalia shook her head.

"No, nothing happened," she lied, burying the memories of the annoying employees and the irritating crowd. "What did you want me to do here? I'm not going to buy anything here."

"Oh. I was hoping..." Monique said, glancing around the store.

"I'm not stupid, I know that if I buy something, you get more money." Natalia replied. "Why do you even _need _a job? Don't you and Francis have that 360-view penthouse with glass walls or something?"

Monique shrugged. "Francis always told me to work as hard as I can, even if we do have enough money."

"_Francis _told you that? I'm not sure we're talking about the same man. The Francis I know is a Casanova nuisance." Natalia said, raising an eyebrow.

"I know he seems, ouh… Pampered, but he's really quite dedicated. He's part of the reason Manon's restaurant hasn't fallen apart, even if they are short on everything—staff, stock, chairs and the like. I think he wants me to become hardworking as well " Monique said. Natalia rolled her eyes; she wasn't really convinced. Francis Bonnefoy was one of the last people she thought of when someone said the word "dedicated."

The man who Monique had been talking to piped up, tilting his head like a dog as he spoke.

"Signorina, I think your friend here is having a bad time. She's not much fond of Monsieur Bonnefoy, is she? That's sad. He's a good man. Funny, too." he said, leaning close to Monique as if they were sharing a secret. Monique whispered something back to him, and they gossiped for a short minute with very little space between them before Natalia coughed for attention.

"Can I just go? I'm not going to buy anything here. Nothing is in my taste." Natalia said, glancing around the rather fancy looking boutique. The brown haired man pouted.

"Shame. I think you'd look quite pretty in a lot of these things, lady. Not as pretty as Mique, though." he said teasingly to Natalia.

"Hush, Romeo." Monique said before Natalia could jump the man and strangle him with his polkadotted bow tie. "Feel free to leave. I won't stop you. Goodbye." Monique said, leaning away from the table and folding her hands neatly. Natalia bit back a farewell and briskly walked out; certainly anymore time spent in such a crowded and prissy space would kill her. She practically bolted away to a taxi cab in front of the shop.

Romeo turned to Monique.

"You have an odd selection of friends, _ciccia_." he observed, slumping over onto the table. Monique laughed.

"Don't be ridiculous, Romeo, we're merely acquaintances. Natalia and I aren't friends. Not by any means of the word."

* * *

The door of her apartment opened after a minute long struggle between Natalia and the old metal lock. Sighing loudly in the emptiness that was her living room, Natalia fell onto her couch, exhausted. The white box fell next to her, its landing cushioned by the soft sofa. It seemed to stare at Natalia, guilting her.

_Call them, Natalia. _It whispered. _Haven't you made them worry long enough?_

Just three years. That wasn't such a long span of time, was it? Maybe they were busy. Perhaps, Iryna would prefer to spend time with her husband, and Ivan with his work. Or, it was because they were ignoring her on purpose—

She was making excuses. How horribly undignified.

Taking in a deep breath, Natalia unboxed the phone and turned it on, staring at the list of contacts in her digital phonebook. There were Iryna's and Ivan's numbers, as well as her parents'. Who first?

Natalia closed her eyes and pressed on a random one out of the three. When she opened them again, she was calling Iryna.

The waiting tone was making her anxious. Part of her was glad that she had subconsciously dialed Iryna first; she was easily the sweetest person that Natalia knew. She knew that their contrasting personalities had humored their teachers back when they were younger. She even remembered the conversation she had overheard from some former school teachers at her sister's wedding.

"_The oldest __Braginskaya_—_well, I guess she's 'Williams' now—__sister is a real sweetheart; I'm happy for her. I remember when I was bedridden last year, she took a day off college to make cookies and bring them to my apartment! I was her teacher ten years before that, and she never forgot me. I tell you, it was quite flattering. Yekaterina was a good student, too. Not the brightest at first, but definitely a hard worker."_

"_Oh yes, I had her younger brother in my Literature class a few years back. He was very friendly. Ivan Braginsky_ _used to stay after school everyday and help me water the flowers. If I recall, he was more Science-oriented than Literature_—_not to say he didn't do well, of course."_

"_And what of Natalia Arlovskaya?"_

"_Who?"_

"_Their younger sister, of course. Eight years younger than Yekaterina_ _and four years younger than Ivan."_

"_That's quite an age difference, I'd say. No, I never taught her. How is it that their sister would have a different last name? A half sibling?"_

"_No, they all have the same parents, but I think she took her mother's surname. Anyways, she's different than her brother and sister. I've never seen a more reclusive student. She's very intelligent and very clever, but her problem is that she's idle. Doesn't talk much, Natalia, and when she does, it's enough to scare me."_

"_Ah, the black sheep of the family?"_

"_Yes, I think you could call her that. I never learned what happened to her after she graduated. But remember that time, five years ago? December, right before winter break, there was the Nutcracker performance with our students downtown."_

"_I had just gotten married then. Yes, I remember—Oh, you're not telling me she's the girl who—"_

Natalia snapped out of her memories right before she approached the subject she hated most, and just in time. The line on the other end crackled and Iryna's voice came out of the phone.

"Hello, this is Iryna Williams. Can I help you?"

Her sister's voice was polite and melodic as always. Natalia wondered why Iryna didn't simply look at the caller ID; knowing her sister, Iryna probably still owned the old rotary.

"Iryna, it's me, Natalia." she said, and then jerked the phone away from her ears when she heard a loud squeal.

"Natashka! It's been an eternity since we last spoke! How are you? Are you eating well? Is New York hot this time of year? Remember to stay hydrated, Natashka. How's your job? Do you have a boyfriend? Is he cute? Or is he a she? Is she cute? Do you have enough money? Are you planning to visit this summer? I haven't seen you in forever." Iryna said, rambling. She didn't leave enough time between questions and comments for Natalia to answer.

"Iryna—IRYNA! Let me talk! Also, stop calling me Natashka. It's childish." she said. The line was silent for a few minutes, before Iryna started sniffling.

"Oh god, Iryna, you're not actually crying. Tell me you're not actually crying." Natalia said sharply.

"You sound so much more like an adult, Natalia! So mature." Iryna said. Her voice was shaking, and Natalia tried to quickly think of ways to keep Iryna from crying. Her sister was such a crybaby; it honestly always felt like Natalia was the older one. Iryna was a 34 year old woman, for crying out loud. Still, she backtracked and answered Iryna's questions.

"But, um, yes, I am eating well. I went out with friends to a bar—I mean, restaurant. It was..._fun_. I'm not dating anyone. My job is going great," she said, the lies tumbling out of her mouth. "I'm not planning to visit this summer, no."

Iryna let out a shaky laugh. "Oh, It's nice to know you're doing well, Natalia! I'm so glad you've made friends."

A muscle in Natalia's jaw jumped when her sister said this, but she couldn't correct her. She simply let out a grunt and continued talking.

"How are you and Matthew?" she asked, trying to steer the conversation away from Natalia's social life.

"Matthew's fine. He's a professor now. Well, actually, he got the job two years ago, but you're just now getting the news. He's also been working on a new garden for our house with me. It's nice to have some space to garden, don't you think, Natalia?"

"I live in New York City." Natalia said flatly. Iryna ignored this and kept prattling on; talking about Matthew and gardens always cheered the older sister up.

"Do you want to talk to him? I'll get him for you. Matthew!"

She could hear Iryna running off on the other end of the call. Natalia groaned and rubbed her face with her right hand. Matthew was sweet, but he was also kind of annoyingly calm and friendly. "Iryna, you don't have to get him."

Too late, Iryna had already returned to the phone call with Matthew.

"Hello, Natalia." he said awkwardly. Natalia said nothing.

"How's New York?" Matthew continued. Natalia could practically see her sister nodding encouragingly to her brother-in-law to increase the conversation. Natalia didn't enjoy the forced small talk at all.

"It's fine." she said shortly. "Can I talk to my sister again?"

She heard a mumbled conversation on the other end; they seemed to be arguing.

Finally, Matthew spoke again.

"Sure, I'll hand it back over to her. Give me a second, Natalia."

There was another crackling sound as the phone was exchanged between hands, and Iryna spoke again.

"Now, wasn't that fun? Anyways, why aren't you coming home for the summer? Lots of people do. It'll be fun! Ivan's coming home in two weeks. You two could meet up."

Natalia pondered her response for a minute; it probably wouldn't be best to tell her eternally anxious sister that she was temporarily suspended from a job and therefore had no source of income. Paralegals made a hell of a lot less than actual lawyers.

"Uh, I'm going to be busy. I've taken on two jobs and I'm thinking of exploring the city more." Natalia lied, crossing her fingers and hoping that Iryna wouldn't catch onto the lie.

"I understand…" Iryna said slowly, like she didn't understand at all. "But I miss you so much! You haven't come home in three years! Papa and Mama miss you too. Maybe you could quit one of the jobs and just take a break for a while. Please, Natashka?"

The young woman winced at her older sister's desperate tone, and her mouth went dry as she denied the plead.

"I really can't, Iryna. Sorry. I'm just busy. Look, I have to call Ivan now. So, I'm just going to hang up, okay? Bye." Natalia said, feeling slightly uncomfortable.

She heard a sob on the other line, and then the call was dropped.

It usually didn't guilt her at all to lie, but her siblings were different. Sibling bonds were important; Natalia didn't want to imagine how her sister would react if Iryna found out that Natalia just truly did not want to go home. Or worse, if she found out how she couldn't _afford _to go home. Iryna was emotional enough without the emotional burden of worrying about Natalia, and Natalia didn't need anyone worrying for her.

Sighing, she looked back at the list of contacts on her phone. Directly under Iryna's name was Ivan's. He lived in Moscow for his job, so that caused the time zones to be a little hard to work around. Natalia calculated Moscow's local time from the Eastern Time Zone—it was 4 PM in New York, so that meant it was around Midnight in Moscow. Ivan would probably still be up. She called him, and sure enough, her brother answered.

"_Здравствуйте, это __Иван Брагинский_!"

"Ivan, it's me, Natalia."

There was a pause.

"Oh, Natalia! Hello! You haven't called in a while. How is New Orleans?" Ivan asked.

"I live in New York, Ivan." she said. "But it's alright for you to make mistakes, brother. It's a wonderful city. And how's Moscow?"

She heard Ivan yawn; it seemed like he really had been asleep when she called. Natalia scolded herself for waking him up.

"Moscow is great. It's like my home away from home! I'm glad to hear that you're alright in New York, but how are you and Feliks?"

Natalia was giddy with the fact that Ivan cared enough about her to ask. Oh, so he really did love her! Her brother certainly was forgiving.

"I'm simply wonderful, Ivan! Even better now that you've ca—Wait, me and _who_?"

"Feliks! Our cousin, remember? Feliks Łukasiewicz, he's a year younger than you and has that strange bob hairstyle." Ivan informed.

Natalia blinked a couple of times in shock and sputtered before regaining her speech. "Wait, what?"

"He moved to New York a month ago and said he'd catch up with you!"

"What?"

"I heard he's been looking everywhere for you. You haven't met together yet? He said, and I quote him exactly, 'I can't wait to meet that bombtastic bitch of your sister, Vanya. Her hair was _fly _at Iryna's wedding. Like, I was cray-cray jealous.'" Ivan said, imitating Feliks. "Oh, I can just give him your number. Give me a minute, Natashka."

"You're going to _what_?"

"There, I sent him your number! I'm sure you'll meet soon. A lovely family reunion is just what you need~"

"WHAT?" Natalia yelled. "You gave Feliks my number? Are you crazy? I don't want to talk to him! He's annoying and he's an actual idiot—"

Ivan pretended not to hear this. He faked oblivion often; Natalia would have found it annoying if her brother wasn't so endearing.

"Natashka, I'm sure you'll have lots of fun together. I'll be jealous! You were such friends as children. Maybe I'll even fly in and see you, if work permits. But for now, your big brother needs to sleep. Bye bye, sister~"

He hung up.

Natalia groaned and threw her head back onto the couch, the phone resting on the cushions. Calling her siblings was nowhere as therapeutic as she had dreamed it would be. She grabbed a pillow and was ready to scream when her phone let out a text notification. Natalia set the pillow back down and checked her phone.

**[4:58:05 PM Feliks_Da_Bae: wats up cuz?]**

Natalia was ready for death.

* * *

**Sorry this Chapter took a while, but expect faster updates in November!**

**A lot of diminutives were used in this chapter, so if you're confused, PM me! I think they're pretty easy to recognize, though.**

**Fav, Follow and Review if you so please. It'll make my day. Thanks again to Lux and Noël for Beta-ing.**

**-Bubble**

**(Psst, there's a poll on my blog for a oneshot I'll be doing. It's for which Hetalia character I'll be doing a day-in-the-life of fic for int he APSM universe! Check it out.}**


	4. Chapter 4

**May 24th, Saturday.**

**[5:35:14 PM Feliks_Da_Bae: gurl were u ]**

**[5:35:17 PM Feliks_Da_Bae: hey nat]**

**[5:35:18 PM Feliks_Da_Bae: nat]**

Natalia wished he would stop texting.

For the past hour now, Feliks had been messaging Natalia literally nonstop—she would look away for a second and there would be four new messages, telling her to answer his texts. She had ignored them, hoping it would stop in a minute or so. It did not stop. In fact, his text's seemed to be coming at a more rapid rate. How did her cousin even manage to be this annoying? It didn't seem humanly possible for _anyone _to be as irritating as he was, but there he was.

It took another twenty minutes for Feliks to start calling. Then he left voicemails. And he just. Wouldn't. Stop.

Natalia gave up.

The next time he called, Natalia picked the phone up and practically screamed into the receiver.

"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU WANT?" she roared.

"Omigod, Nats. You like, finally answered. I was beginning to think that Ivan, like, gave me the wrong digits or some shit." Feliks said, not at all affected by her yelling. His voice was somewhat shrill and whiny as always; Natalia had hoped it would become less annoying with time.

"Shut up, Feliks" Natalia growled. "My brother would never make such a stupid mistake."

Feliks laughed. "Doll, I forgot about that weird thing you had with your brother bein' perf or some shit. But hey, like, I totes respect that. I mean, like, we all know that I'm the only purely perfect human being, but since we're related, I guess Ivan's pretty rad too."

"I understood about thirty percent of that. Why the fuck can't you speak normally?"

"This is normal, babe! Normal for me. So like, enough with the small talk and shizz. How's you, baby girl? I've been like, hella worried trying to find you. I looked everywhere—the ballet studios, unis and everything. It was like, totes exhausting. I wore out a pair of boots. They were vintage and everything." Feliks said, chattering away.

"I'm fine. Actually, I moved to Oregon, so you won't find me in New York." Natalia lied. Feliks giggled on the other end.

"Sweetie, I'm not cray. Your number is still has a Big Apple area code. I should know; I, like, moved here. It was great. On the plane, the flight attendant was like, 'OMG, I love your hair!' to me, and I nearly fainted 'cos her hair was like, the bomb! It was an honor, trust me. Her hair was like, this _perfect _honey blonde. I was so jells. Like, we're all blonde in our family, Nats, but like, Iryna and Ivan are both ash blond, and your hair has this weird ass white blonde color, and I have this fan-fucking-tastic lemony hair, but she was like, _sunshine_. So, like, anyways, I arrived at the airport, and it was totally gnarly. There were like, at least a billion peeps! I mean gawd, I stood out in the crowd of course, but there was competition! Like, gag me with a spoon, there was a guy with blue hair who actually looked better than me! It was sick, in both ways." Feliks rambled, taking a single breath between his words. Natalia didn't even get a chance to interrupt him before he continued with his monologue about New York City and hair.

"So another flight attendant—her hair was totes _bitchin_', it was long and looked like fuckin' silk. And like, she was wearing this pair of rad red stilettos, and she told me where she bought them and stuffs. Then I got lost looking for a taxi. Did you know you have to pay just to get in them? It was coo', tho. The bruh in my car was totally chill and he this gnarly mile-high quif thingy. So then, he recommended this hella Vietnamese restaurant, and it turned out, like, _ehmahzing_. Then, I—"

"Feliks, shut your mouth." Natalia snapped. Really, she was impressed she had been silent for this long without breaking a window. Feliks' speech patterns had most likely destroyed a good dozen of her brain cells. "I couldn't care less about your airplane experience. Just get to the point."

"Fine. Party pooper." Feliks grumbled. "Anyways, since I'm living in _the _city now, I was thinkin' we should hang some time? Like, I work in this pet shop thingiemajiger downtown, so I could totally meet up with you there. What do you think?"

"I'd rather scoop out my eyeballs with my fingers then meet up with you, Feliks." His cousin replied bluntly.

"Wow, you're so hardcore." Feliks said sarcastically. "Yeah, you've got this weird obsession with trying to sound bitch ass. It won't work with me, doll. I am, like, titanium. But I don't think I'd wanna meet up with your totally grouchy aura anywho. I can taste the negativity through the phone. Like, my houseplants are legit dying because you radiate pessimism and I don't even have houseplants. 'Cuz ya killed 'em."

"Thank you. The fact that I don't have to meet up with you is the honestly best news I've received all day." Natalia said. Feliks scoffed, and she could picture him flipping his hair in her mind. That's what she got for growing up with him: unwanted and idle mental images of her cousin doing the most dull things.

"Whatevs. I'm just wondering why you didn't just hang up if you, like, think I'm so grody. Well, I know I'm a super star, but you're such the opposite of a super star that maybe you can't observe happiness. You're like, a bad moon or something. I dunno. What's the opposite of a super st—"

Natalia hung up on him, and her ears blessed the silence that followed. A heavy weight seemed to have settled in her stomach because she knew exactly why she hadn't hung up before, even if he did annoy her. Feliks was her first cousin on her mother's side. He was the closest relative she had in proximity. He was family, and her family was something that Natalia dreamed to see.

The blonde woman had spent the past few days wistfully thinking of seeing her sister and brother and then denying the wish to her sister. Her cousin was living in the same city as she was. It seemed almost like a dream come true—

—But Feliks wasn't Iryna. Feliks didn't smile kindly and bake cupcakes and hadn't sang lullabies when Natalia was six and afraid of everything. He didn't wrap her and Ivan in a hand knitted scarf when they were cold back home in Sitka. And Feliks wasn't Ivan, who had been her idol since forever and who had always agreed to play games with Natalia and had loyally attended each one of her recitals and performances, even after he left school.

Feliks was family by blood, but he had never been particularly close to Natalia even if she was only a year older than him and they were cousins. No, they weren't entirely familiar at all. Why would she bother meeting up someone who would be nothing more than an acquaintance at best if they hadn't been related?

_Give him a chance,_ her heart whispered, _He might be better than you think. After all, he is your cousin. Doesn't he deserve kindness?_

She told her heart to shut up and mind its own business. It was too late for this, and it was still only six o'clock in the evening. Natalia only had so much patience to waste on him.

Maybe she'd order take out for dinner and go to bed early for the first time in a while. That would be nice.

**May 25th, Sunday.**

Natalia didn't wake up to her alarm clock, or to the sun that hadn't even risen when she had. No, she was disturbed from her slumbers by her new phone which had been charging on her bedside table. Groggy and bleary eyed with sleep, the woman fumbled with her phone until she managed to hit the home button. Notifications proudly displayed the email that had waken her from her sleeping.

_**Help Wanted!: bellemanon to ihedervarygoodtime, mllachance, sea_wurld_curled, n_arlovskaya and 43 others…**_

_Hello! Recently, business has improved greatly at my restaurant 'Le Maison de Wonder' and my brother has contacted me about finding a new part time waiter or waitress, especially since we are now one short of staff ever since Rozentuin left last week. I will obviously be able to pay, and if you are hired, wages will be discussed in person. The times of work are flexible, but the days of work are Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. If wanted, I can adjust them to more days or less days as requested. If you are interested in this job in the slightest, please contact me! Thanks you. _

_-Manon Clovis._

Natalia winced internally at Manon's subtle begging tone. What kind of situation must her restaurant be going through that losing a single waitress was enough to induce panic in the normally humble but confident woman? Remembering the few dollar bills that Manon had offered as tips at the Power bar, the small room that was her bistro, and the fact that her restaurant seemed to be drawing in too many people for her to handle, it seemed that Manon's health and mentality hung at the very end of a shoestring.

The indigo eyed woman read over the email ago, and then a third time. Manon needed a waitress and was still offering a salary. Ludwig had put her and Leon on suspension for around a week with no pay, but she'd go back to work as his paralegal on Thursday. It would certainly be benefacting to her bank account if she worked two jobs, and Natalia didn't really care if she fell into exhaustion; ironically, it would make one of the lies she told her sister true.

Running her fingers through her bedraggled, knotted hair, Natalia frowned. Usually when she made spur of the moment decisions, it didn't end well.

Screw it.

Sucking in her breath and exhaling deeply, Natalia called Manon.

It took a while for Manon to pick up the call—two tries, actually, but when she did, Manon spoke quickly.

"Hello? This is Manon Clovis. If you're not calling to ask about the job offer, then I'm terribly sorry, but I'm a bit too busy to talk about anything else."

"Manon, this is Natalia. Natalia Arlovskaya. I am calling you to ask about the waitressing job, so you can't hang up on me."

"Oh, Natalia! I wasn't going to. You're looking to be a waitress for me? I thought you were a lawyer. Aren't you going to be too busy if you work two jobs? I thought being a lawyer paid well." Manon asked, curious.

"I'm a paralegal, not a lawyer. There's a difference. Paralegals are paid...considerably less. But yes, I am asking you for a job as a waitress at your restaurant. Don't try asking why I want two jobs; it's really none of your business. " Natalia said. "I have waited on tables and customers before, so I have experience.. In college, I worked at several chain restaurants as a waitress.. Is there a specific date for your interview, or are we just doing a phone interview right now?"

"You're hired." Manon said as soon as Natalia stopped talking. Natalia balked.

"What?"

"I said you're hired. You have the job. You got it. Yay!" Manon squealed.

"You can't just hire someone after six seconds of interview! What if I had a criminal record or something? Is this how you handled all your employee's hiring? Jesus Christ, for all you know, Francis could be a serial killer." Natalia said indignantly. Manon 'tsked' at the other woman's words.

"Don't be crazy, Natalia. Of course I'm taking this into consideration! I've known you since college, and I just want to trust you enough. I'm not a dummy. Plus you get the job. Isn't that a good thing?. So, is it a yes or no?"

Natalia groaned and raised her free hand up to rub her face. "Yeah, fine. I can quit if I don't like this, right? You won't refuse to let me leave?"

"Oh, heavens no. I won't hold you hostage or anything if you really do want to leave in the future, but It means _so _much to me that you offered to work.. I'll be honest, I never thought you were considerate type, so it definitely proves me wrong, right?" Manon let out a little laugh. Natalia didn't reply, so she kept on talking. "Anyways, can you get here by nine? I'll email you the address."

"Wait, the job's starting today? Don't I get employee training or an uniform?" Natalia asked, regretting her choice with every word that Manon said.

"Well, you just told me that you waited on tables before, so I just thought you wouldn't need any. If you want, I'll call Roderich and tell him and Francis to show you around. As for a uniform...Hm, wear a blouse and black pants. You should tie your hair up too, but that's just optional. I'll give you an actual uniform when you get here. So, can you get here by nine?"

"I'll be there by nine if I must. Manon, I'm not that confident in this—"

"Oh, hush! You'll do fine, Natalia." Manon said reassuringly.

"It's not me I'm worried about, but if you insist." Natalia said.

Manon had already hung up.

Blinking her eyes in the dark, she then squeezed them shut and threw the blankets back over her body. Now safely secure and warm in the duvet, Natalia could regret her decision in comfort.

Did Manon sincerely believe that Natalia had agreed to her job offer from the kindness of her heart? The main reason anyone took a job was for money. She hadn't even considered that it would benefit Manon; the only reason she had offered was for herself. Did that make her selfish? Probably, but it didn't matter to Natalia as long as she got paid. Money couldn't buy happiness, but it could buy the things that supplied it; food, shelter...And she'd definitely set aside money to visit her siblings. As much as she had lied to Iryna, as soon as Natalia got the chance, she would go home and visit them. That would be worth the extra work.

Yawning, her head was filled with lovely images of home and hearth and her siblings and she drifted off to sleep.

* * *

"God dammit, bastard! You got powdered sugar all over me!"

Lovino Vargas fluffed out his dark brown hair and dusted off his clothes. The black uniform he was wearing was now clouded with powder. Natalia set the bag of sugar on the countertop and frowned.

"You were the one running around the kitchen yelling orders, and you were the one that crashed into _me_." Natalia groused, batting sugar off of her black waist apron as well. Lovino threw his hands up into the air.

"You don't need to get into specifics, idiot. Sweet mother Mary, complain about one thing around a lawyer and they're pulling out all kinds of irrelevant info out from their a—"

"I'm not a lawyer. I'm a paralegal. There's a difference."

"Well, Natalia, we're all waiters here. Don't go riding no high horses." Lovino said with a huff. Francis, who had been mixing a bowl full of vegetables a couple of feet away, interrupted.

"Lovino, you know that I'm a chef. Not a waiter. Why do you keep on getting everyone's jobs wrong?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. Lovino flipped his hair out of his eyes and raised a hand in indignation.

"Whatever, Bonnefoy. The facts are that this is a kitchen, and I am the boss. You're all just taking my orders."

Roderich looked up from the cake he was frosting with chocolate and gave shorter man a disapproving look.

"You are a waiter, Vargas. Miss Clovis is the only one who we take orders from." he said stuffily. Lovino opened and closed his hand like a talking mouth.

"Oh yeah? Let's see, what was the order? Table number Seven, Order: a chocolate cake a la mode, potato wedges, and a beef stew with carrots and potatoes. And what are you making? Let's see, Frenchie: you're stirring carrots and potatoes for the stew. Hey, look! There's beef in chunks right next to you. And you! Roderich! You're icing a chocolate cake. Aren't you technically taking the orders I gave you?"

"'Technically' being the key word, I should think." Francis said, sounding more amused than insulted. "Isn't Natalia here taking over for Rozie? She's a waitress too."

Lovino put his hands on his hips and glared up at Francis. "Yeah, dumbass, but she started like five minutes ago. She hasn't taken any orders yet. Just stop talking to me! You're making me lose brain cells, you _porco demonio_!"

Francis took a step closer to Lovino, who immediately scurried behind Natalia, who in turned pushed him away. Roderich had turned back to his the cake and frosting, and Francis returned to the stew and started talking to Natalia.

"Well, Mademoiselle Natalia, Manon told me to show you the ropes." he said.

"Really, I don't want you to show me anything, Francis. I'm pretty sure I could just improvise." Natalia said. She hadn't forgotten the argument that they had on Friday and wasn't partial to be around Francis any longer. Francis ignored this.

"This is the main kitchen, as you know. Mainly Roderich and I work here, but we do have another chef who comes in on Thursdays and Fridays, and a _saucier _ who has today off. I am _le chef de cuisine_—the chief chef, if you please." he said, giving Natalia a smile rather like that of Cheshire Cat's before continuing.

"Roderich is a _pâtissier_."

"Pastry chef?" Natalia asked, looking over to where the dark haired man was, crouched over and painstakingly adding miniscule details to a circular chocolate cake. Francis nodded, the smirk still on his face.

"Exactly, Natalia. Sadık, our _saucier_, prepares sauces, fish, and fried items. He's quite a charming man, so I don't you think you'll like him. There's also Feliciano, Lovino's younger brother, the _sous chef_. And of course, there's Lovino, who you've met. He's a waiter like you, but he can occasionally—_very_ occasionally—be trusted with making specific dishes. Mostly dishes with some variant of tomato." Francis said, gesturing over to where the waiter was standing grumpily in the corner. "But I think his greatest use as a help is as our _plongeur_."

"I can't speak French." Natalia said flatly. Lovino sputtered and glared at Francis.

"He said I'm only good as a dishwasher. What a cheese sucking, wine fucking bastard." he grumbled, pouting even more. Francis laughed.

"Lovino, I couldn't very well lie and say that your personality was your best aspect, now could I? I mean, just look at you!" the blond man said, teasing the other man. Lovino was slouched sloppily against the caramel colored walls of the kitchen, his face dark red. He seemed too angry to say anything besides sputters. Francis turned back to Natalia

"That's all you really need to know for now, but I'd be glad to teach such a cold beauty anything…" he said flirtatiously. Natalia couldn't decide if he was just jesting or not, but frowned up at him anyways. Francis dropped the sultry tone and continued talking normally. "Right, the customers on Table Seven are the only ones in right now, and you should go deliver their drinks to them."

"Well, what did they get?" Natalia asked. Francis leaned over to a board with clips and read the order slip.

"An Earl Grey tea with a cube of sugar and cream, and Mountain Dew." Francis pulled a face. "Oh, I think I know who's sitting at Table Seven. I really need to tell Manon to remove soda from the drink menu. It really ruins the food and ambience. That aside, the soda machine is in the back and Roderich can show you where the tea is."

The violet eyed man looked up from where he was putting on finishing touches to the cake and adjusted his glasses, looking uncertainly at Natalia. Natalia stared back expectantly. Roderich set the pipe of frosting onto the polished metal countertop and sighed.

"There are two types of Earl Grey that we have here. There's the loose leaf version, which is preferable to me, and there's the tea bag. Francis, what type do you think?"

Francis looked over to Roderich. "Tea bag, of course. He deserves it."

Natalia looked quizzically at them both, but decided to ignore it.

"So then. where are the tea bags?" she asked folding her arms. Roderich pointed to large wooden door, one of the many doors in the kitchen. Natalia walked over to it and opened it up. In it was the pantry, where many, many dry goods were stored. There was an entire section devoted to what looked like assorted sprinkles, ball bearings and other pastry decorations. The wall to the left of Natalia had boxes, tins and jars of tea. It took a full five minutes to find the box of Earl Grey tea bags; it had been shoved in the lower right hand corner.

Getting a white ceramic mug so polished that it sparkled (as instructed by Roderich) and the vessel of hot water, Natalia steeped the tea and left it for a minute as she fiddled around with the soda machine. When she checked back on the mug of tea with the soda in hand, Roderich handed her a tray and ushered her out the door into the restaurant.

It was dimly lit, with one large rectangular window and fairy lights strung across the entire room that gave it a warm ambience. The walls were painted a deep chocolate brown and there were several wooden shelves around the place; some held old fashioned children's books written in French or Dutch, others had picture box frames with sepia pictures and well-loved stuffed animals plushies. It made the entire establishment look homey and somewhat vintage—and although Natalia hated to admit it—it was also kind of _cute_. In short, it was very obvious that Manon had designed the room.

At a table right in front of the glass window were the only customers so far: two men, sitting on plush velvet and wood dining chairs at either ends of a square chestnut table, talking. As she moved closer, a chord of recognition rang through her: not for one of them, but for _both _of them.

The man on the right hand side was shorter than the other; he had sandy colored hair and a pale, almost sickly complexion. He was the one talking, a beaten up leather bound notebook filled with jumbled notes and sketches on the table in front of him. Natalia didn't need for him to raise his head or to see his electric green eyes to recognize the man.

The man he was talking to looked a year or so younger but definitely healthier. He had tanned skin, well defined muscles and a playful grin on his face as the other man spoke. He was wearing a pair of black glasses that didn't dim the annoyingly bright, sky blue eyes he had. Neither of them had noticed that she was there.

"I have a Mountain Dew and an Earl Grey for Table Seven." she said loudly over their conversation. Arthur Kirkland jolted up, accidentally kicking Alfred's knee in his shock at the sudden voice. He took a second to calm down, but was once again shocked when he realized that he _knew _who was talking. Alfred's eyes widened too when he saw Natalia, and he laughed.

"Hey, it's Natalia. Nice to see you again! I didn't know you worked here. We come here, like, everyday, but I've never seen you wait here." he said conversationally. Arthur gave Alfred a bemused look.

"You know Natalia Arlovskaya, Alfred?" Arthur asked as Natalia set the mug of tea in front of him. He uttered a thanks as she set it down. Alfred laughed.

"Yeah dude, she was at the store I work at yesterday. She got angry because she thought I was a perv or something, but we're totally cool now. Thanks, Natalia." he said, grinning wider as she handed him the glass of soda. "How do you know her, Artie?"

"She works at the World building for the lawyer on floor 46. I think you might have heard of him—Ludwig Beilschmidt?" Arthur asked, dropping a sugar cube into his tea and mixing it in with the metal teaspoon. Alfred thought for a moment, then shook his head.

"Nah, sorry. I'm guessing he's some famous lawyer?" he said, setting his elbow on the table.

"Very much so. Have you heard about the Eosos model debacle?"

Alfred's eyes widened. "Oh, that! Yeah, 'course I've heard of it. It's all over the internet. What's he got to do with it?" he asked curiously. Natalia spoke before Arthur could.

"Mr. Beilschmidt is the lawyer in charge of handling the case for Lucia, the CEO of Eosos against the model." Natalia said. She decided not to mention that Ludwig had dropped Lucia as a client and that she herself was temporarily suspended from that job. Alfred seemed impressed.

"Woah. Cool. Then why are you working here?" Alfred asked Natalia.

"I'm sleeping with the owner of the restaurant, that's why. Why do you think? For money, obviously." she said irritably. There was a beat, and then Alfred started laughing. Arthur gave Natalia a quizzical look and pulled the glass of soda out of of the other man's hands in case he spilled any Mountain Dew on himself.

"You've got a rather odd sense of humor, Miss Arlovskaya." Arthur said before returning to his notebook, a leaking black ink pen in hand.

Natalia walked briskly and quickly back into the kitchen, where Lovino was arguing about something with Francis once again; Lovino was obviously a bit more invested in the banter than Francis was. Francis was boiling something in a large copper pot and Lovino was simply yelling.

"—_And_ don't forget the time you kissed our boss in front of CUSTOMERS! You probably mentally scarred a child or something because it was so gross. Like God, can't you ever control yourself?" Lovino yelled, pointing accusingly at Francis. Francis didn't take his eyes off the beef stew he was still stirring while he spoke.

"Lovi, that was just a peck on the lips. She said it was okay before hand anyways. I would have never have forced her to kiss me, and I don't go around begging for a kiss like someone else I know." Francis replied. He seemed as calm as ever, while Lovino seemed to be at his bursting point. Natalia wondered why Francis had been so edgy on Friday if he was so controlled and mellow right now.

"You two didn't stop sucking on each other's faces for like, _an hour_. I nearly threw up." Lovino said, gagging. Francis smirked slightly.

"Maybe I shouldn't tell you about what we did afterwards—I don't think your pure maiden heart could handle it without a heart attack." he said smugly, mixing in carrots to the stew. Lovino blanched.

"Ugh, trust me, I don't want to know. I'll explode if you say one more gross thing." Lovino said, turning away sharply. He then looked back a second later. "Wait, what _did_ you two do?"

"Well, Lovino, you won't believe this but we actually _held hands_. Don't faint now. I know it's a bit risque." Francis said cheekily. Lovino's palm met his face and he stomped away angrily; most likely to go sulk in the pantry. Natalia cleared her throat.

"I sent the drinks to their table. Now what?" she asked impatiently, not at all emotionally invested in their bickering.

"Can you slice potatoes?" Francis asked, gesturing to where a cutting board and knife lay. "I asked Lovino to do it earlier, but he just exploded into a huge rant. You look like someone who would be good with knives."

"True. I used to take knife throwing lessons back in my school days." Natalia replied nonchalantly, picking up the vegetable knife and throwing it up into the air. It lands on the palm of her hand perfectly without a scratch or nick on her skin. Lovino stared at her with his mouth agape and a slightly panicked expression just like Roderich, but Francis didn't seem to have noticed her trick.

"Perfect. Cut around twenty potato wedges for Table Seven, and when you're done, put them in the bowl. Lovino, there's another gaggle of customers coming through the door; go wait on them. Natalia, when you're done with the potatoes, go help him." Francis ordered, now stirring the soup with an energetic fevor.

Natalia swung the knife downward rather a bit too enthusiastically and cut the potato cleanly in half a loud chopping noise. Then she began cutting it normally, counting the wedges as she did until she reached twenty. The potato she scooped up and placed in a ceramic bowl, and the knife she set in a sink; she then went out with a notepad, pen and a couple of menus to help Lovino wait as ordered.

There were now a few more people milling around the restaurant and some of them were smart enough to read the sign and seat themselves; others still waited near the entrance. One of them was a father with four children running in circles around him while he tried to calm them down. Natalia pointed them over to a large table in the corner farthest away from the kitchen with a forced smile upon her face. When she heard one of the children squeal in fright at her slightly demonic grin, she decided to just greet the other diners with her normal grim expression.

After she had directed a giggly girl and her rather embarrassed boyfriend to their table and seeing that there weren't anymore people standing about, she went back into the kitchen.

Francis was ladeling stew into a large bowl and Lovino, who had returned to the kitchen before Natalia had, was frying the potatoes while talking on the phone loudly over the noise. When she got closer, she realized that he was speaking in Italian.

"Natalia, you can take the soup out for Table Seven. Lovino, when you're done with the potatoes go get the drink orders from Tables Two, Four, and Nine. Also, put your phone away." Francis said, sliding the bowl over the counter to Natalia. "There's no time to dilly-dally, especially since Manon's bound to check in soon."

"I was wondering where she was. I haven't seen her all morning." Roderich mulled, a cake knife in his hands. Francis shrugged.

"I think she's out buying produce. It's what she usually does at this time. Now Natalia, Table Seven! You really mustn't keep them waiting." Francis said, picking the bowl up and setting it on a tray before handing it to Natalia.

With the tray balanced on her hand, she used the other to push open the door to the eating area and walked back over to the window where Alfred and Arthur were sitting. Arthur raised a thick eyebrow when he saw her again, but Alfred enthusiastically waved her over.

"Hey, Natalia! Lend us your brain for a second." he said cheerfully. Natalia balked.

"What?" she asked, stopping dead in her tracks.

"Which one do you think is better—Alyna, or Veronika?" Alfred continued. Natalia frowned slightly and set the bowl down.

"Are you thinking of Russian names? In that case, It wouldn't be Alyna. It would be Alyona, genius." Natalia snapped, taking the tray back. Arthur groaned and put his face in his hands.

"For Jesus Christ, stop harassing random people." he mumbled through his hands. Alfred tilted his head, looking rather like a confused puppy.

"But I'm trying to help you! You were divided between the two names. and Natalia's apparently an actual Russian speaking person, so isn't that go—"

"Don't just randomly tell it to people, Alfred! Have some human decency." Arthur said. "God, you're such a prat."

Natalia set down smaller, empty bowls in front of Arthur and Alfred.

"Are you two having a child together or some shit?" she asked bluntly. Arthur jerked his head away from his hands and started sputtering incoherently, the momentum from his motion sending the chair falling backwards and crashing into the chair of another diner. He ignored this as he stood up, his notebook clutched tightly in hand.

"Have a...CHILD? With him? What gave you that bloody awful idea? I would never—Lord Almighty...You're just like the bartender in that Power Bar who wouldn't stop squealing about my brother and I before she found out we were related. Natalia Arlovskaya, I expected better of you! That's just—That's just—I'm not in love with him at all! I don't have time for dating, or children, or romance, or sleeping, or this—That's preposterous! We're just friends! I have a job, and a younger brother, and I—How terribly uncouth!" Arthur rambled, waving the notebook in Natalia's face. "It's a name for a character in my novel! I'm an author! THIS HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH CHILDREN!"

Several people had turned from their menus to stare at Arthur while the man himself was breathing heavily. A wide-eyed Alfred looked bemusedly from Natalia to Arthur, the soup ladle in his hands.

"Whoa, Arthur. Take a chill pill, man! I'm sure that Natalia was just curious. I bet she didn't know that you were a writer or something. Relax." he said. Arthur's green eyes darted wildly across the room, meeting the eyes of the people that were staring at him. He cleared his throat.

"Well, perhaps you're right, Alfred. Miss Arlovskaya, I offer my humble apologies for my outburst. I suppose I might have just misunderstood you." Arthur said, bowing slightly. That didn't make the scene any less odd.

"You should well know that I knew that you are a writer, Kirkland, but you'll have to remind yourself that I've only known you inside the World building; I only thought of you as a writer for the Newspaper. Forgive me for not delving into your social life." Natalia responded coldly. She was in fact lying slightly; Natalia had found out about Arthur's dream of publishing a novel from Emil in one particularly interesting coffee break. There was what seemed to be a staring contest between Natalia and Arthur, and then Natalia looked away. It was odd yelling at Arthur—he was someone she had generally respected enough to not be incredibly rude to. As Arthur set his chair back up, Alfred started talking casually as if nothing had happened.

"So yeah, we should totally catch that new Disney film that's coming out on Wednesday. I think the new princess looks kickass! What do you think?" he chattered, setting the ladle back in the bowl. Natalia decided that it would be best to walk as quickly away from the scene as possible, but on the way back to the kitchen, a diner stopped her.

"Excuse me, ma'am, but what was the commotion all about?" A woman asked. She wore a visor and had about thirty plastic bags in the area around her and there was something about the way she spoke; the woman was most likely a tourist. Lies and excuses ran through Natalia's head like lightning before she decided on one that would hopefully be good enough to not tarnish the restaurant's or her own reputation.

"Oh, that's a Broadway actor and his acting coach. He's a bit dramatic, but he's quite popular so I wouldn't go around talking trash about him, even if he is...Well… Anyways, he's rehearsing for a new musical, and if you know anything about New York, you'll have heard of it. It's called 'The Newspaper Critic'." Natalia said, lying easily. It was a near perfect lie—belittle the suspect, belittle the one being lied to, and sound superior. Her judge of character had been right. The woman was yet but a confused tourist.

"Did you mean Newsies? I've heard quite a bit about it." The woman said, flustered. Natalia waved her hand in a superior manner.

"Please, that's not even on Broadway anymore. No, it's a new musical, but enough about that. I'm a waitress, not an concierge. Now, can I take your order or not?"

* * *

A passing car caused the wind to rise, making her hair hit her in the face. Natalia spat a mouthful of hair out and not-so silently yelled insults at the long since gone driver. Manon stared bemusedly at Natalia, her hands holding the key to the restaurant. It was around eleven PM and the restaurant was closed, the last customer having had left around an hour ago. The last hour had been devoted to cleaning, dusting and wiping down the entire location.

"Did you enjoy your first day here, Natalia?" Manon asked, tucking the key back into her coat pocket. Natalia scowled, but her face was turned away from the other woman.

"Not particularly." Natalia said bluntly.

"Aw, why not?" Manon asked. She ran up to match pace with the shorter woman as they walked down the street from the bistro.

"I don't enjoy most things, and this wasn't impressive or anything." she replied, "Also, I really do need to discuss work times with you."

"Well then, shoot!" Manon said. "I was wondering why you had been so eager to start the job today. Maybe you just more pep in your step than I thought!"

"Wrong." Natalia replied.

"Oh, what do you mean?"

"I meant wrong that you think I have more—'pep in my step' or whatever. I just agreed to the job for money." Natalia said, crossing her arms. Manon sighed.

"I see." she said glumly. "Now, what did you want to change the times to?"

"As many people have noted many, many times, I am a paralegal. I will be unable to attend work at The World building this week for reasons—"

"Didn't Roderich say something about the Eosos Incorporated case going wrong?" Manon asked, curious. Natalia ignored her question.

"Anyways, I could only work until I can somehow return to work. The date I'm supposed to return to is this Thursday, but with no news from my boss, I think I will work at your bistro until my job as a mostly full time paralegal will resume. This could be anywhere from a few days to a few months."

"Well...alright, I think that sounds decent enough. For work hours, would nine to four be alright for you?" Manon asked. Natalia shrugged.

"Fine."

"I wouldn't usually have such lax and flexible working times, but I guess since we're friends—"

"Stop talking." The shorter woman snapped at Manon, who fell silent.

They continued walking at an equal pace for a few minutes until Manon broke into a run at a turning. Natalia stared blankly at the other woman as she literally bolted away. Manon was either incredibly fond of running, or just reluctant to spend anymore time around Natalia. It could really be either, but if it was the second one then Natalia wondered why Manon had hired her at all.

With a shrug, Natalia took the crosswalk and started walking home. It was a warmer night than it had been two days ago, and it was a good thing that Manon's bistro was just a little more than a mile from her own apartment. The World building in comparison was much farther; when she was first hired by Ludwig, she had taken to taking the subway station to work but it had been way too crowded for a loner such as Natalia. It was worth the extra money to take a taxi cab.

A small pack of joggers in uniform neon track clothing ran past Natalia and lights washed over her from the yellow lights from the street, white light from the office buildings, and multicolored lights winked from the cars and shops. The city was illuminated as usual.

Natalia stared up at the yellow moon, barely visible in the starless sky; she was all too ready to go home.

It had been an odd day.

* * *

**I had no beta's this time. **

**Hm, I had actually been planning this part for a while, so I hope it isn't too plot twist-y. I enjoyed writing Arthur and Lovino in this chapter.**

**Remember to review if you'd like! :D**

**-Bubble**


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